Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Became a Mafia in the Academy

After soaring into the air, I rolled to land and immediately assumed a fighting stance.

“Grrr!”

“Rrrrr!”

The kobolds, aiming their weapons at me, let out fierce growls.

Was there really this many, fifty of them?

Just as I was about to reach into the cube to pull out [Al Capone’s Tommy], I recalled what Guak Chunshik had said to me.

‘Don’t use weapons, take care of them.’

His words to not use weapons. In the end, I stopped activating the cube and, as I fell in front of them, I ignited the aura of [Bloodline: Calliope] automatically.

“Too many is good!”

Perhaps because I was receiving so much hostility from fifty enemies, the aura that began to rise from my body was incomparable to when I had sparred with the old duo just a moment ago.

The kobolds flinched and retreated at the ominous aura.

“Well, see you later, sir.”

First, I turned my back on Guak Chunshik, who was standing with his arms crossed, and gradually gathered the overwhelming aura that was rising from me, spreading it throughout my body.

If it ended here, it would only result in a physical enhancement, but I took it one step further, gradually releasing aura from my fists to form a thin layer.

I tried to change it into something like a glove or another form as I had before, but it felt like I was trying to shape water, and in the end, all I could do was let it flow through my hands.

But this should be enough to deal with those guys.

“Grr! Grrr! Grrrrr!”

“Rrrr! Grrr!”

The kobolds, realizing that something ominous was happening in front of them, began to raise their weapons.

If the kobolds attacked first, it could be disadvantageous to get mixed into the middle of their formation and lead to a chaotic battle. I had to enter now, before their fear turned to madness.

Squeak───

The moment I heard the sound of a crossbow being loaded by one of the kobolds, I rushed into their midst and smashed the face of the one at the front.

Bang──!

This would prevent them from even attempting most of their prepared ranged attacks.

Caught off guard by my sudden charge, I smashed the jaw of the one trying to throw away his crossbow and draw a dagger, and began to crush them one by one.

With each one of them being brutally shattered, I could feel their fear growing.

And that fear was being converted into power by my trait, [Heir of the Dark Family], and the thin layer of aura that had been reinforcing my body was now spreading throughout, brimming with explosive power.

“Grrr!”

“Squeak!”

The kobolds who were trying to surround me were sent flying back by the shockwave, and when I kicked towards the ones hiding behind them, they burst like water balloons.

At the same time, a pungent smell of blood and urine spread thickly through the dungeon.

“...Phew.”

A red smoke, as if blood was evaporating, rose from my body.

I emitted aura to prevent the blood from touching me, so fortunately, I didn’t get covered in it.

Running my sweat-soaked hair back, I turned to Guak Chunshik, who was still watching from behind.

“Is this enough?”

In just a few minutes, I had rendered most of the fifty kobolds unable to fight, so the battle could be considered over.

However, Guak Chunshik’s expression was strange.

I expected him to say something like, ‘Not bad,’ or ‘I would have finished it faster,’ but he just stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at me blankly.

...Did I make a mistake?

“...Sir?”

* * *

Wasn’t that kid Vito Calliope’s son?

Having watched the kid’s battle until the end, I was utterly astonished.

I didn’t expect much when I threw him into the kobold crowd.

I had seen his combat sense and style during the sparring, so this time I wanted to see how he used his aura in practice.

I had seen countless aura users who could be called aura masters, and I knew the average growth rate better than anyone.

He had only been awakened for a month... so I had a rough idea.

Handling aura is difficult, so he would focus on one part of his body to fight.

He would use more power than necessary to maintain it while moving, and ultimately, he would exhaust himself from not pacing himself.

But.

‘Is this even possible?’

The kid had already surpassed my expectations.

The aura that was uselessly flying around in all directions was indeed that of a newly awakened novice, but the rest of his performance...

‘A genius.’

The reason the kid found it difficult to handle aura wasn’t because of poor control.

It was simply because he couldn’t handle the overwhelming amount of aura.

He was forcing the raging torrent of aura to twist and form into ‘emissions’.

And I had seen such a scene before.

──Vito Calliope.

The man everyone now calls ‘Don’, the one who dominates the night streets of the world.

In the past, he was the one who burned himself out at the forefront, trying to protect those who were discriminated against and marginalized.

With a single punch, numerous monsters would burst, and with a single kick, large beasts would fall.

‘Blood really can’t be denied, can it.’

I saw Vito Calliope’s figure superimposed on this kid.

“...Sir?”

The kid called out to me. Despite creating such a gruesome and horrific scene, there wasn’t a single drop of blood on his body.

The aura was so dense that it repelled even the surrounding blood. It was absurd to see.

A level of aura quantity that could be described as monstrous.

If this kid, who might have more aura than Vito Calliope or even myself...

“You could... do it.”

“...What?”

The technique created to counter the man who would surpass me, Vito Calliope.

The technique that even I couldn’t handle properly.

I was confident that this kid could master it.

* * *

“What do you mean by ‘possible’? What are you talking about?”

There it is.

Guak Chunshik’s gimmick activation line.

My lips twitched with joy, but I did my best to control my muscles.

I thought I’d have to suffer for a while, but seeing the tears welling up in his eyes, it seemed he had truly met the conditions to activate his gimmick.

Or, was there something to be moved by?

I just did what I usually do...

“...Let’s talk later. Other guys will be drawn by the smell of blood soon.”

“They’d all be swept away with a single gesture from you, sir.”

“Idiot, does my aura dig through the ground? In a dungeon of this size, maybe, but if you do that recklessly elsewhere, you’ll die of exhaustion, you fool.”

After saying that, Guak Chunshik put his hands behind his back and walked into the dungeon.

“I’ll walk slowly to the boss room, so you deal with them.”

“...Me? Isn’t this your request?”

“It’s my request and your mentor’s request. Did you think you could just learn and leave after coming here to be a mentee?”

Wow, he’s really pushing me into being a bad guy here.

Just as I thought I had raised his affection with that, his true character came out.

Still, I figured I could handle the rest of the kobolds in this dungeon with [Al Capone’s Tommy], so I sighed and pulled out my gun.

“I understand── Huh?!”

Guak Chunshik suddenly hit me on the back.

“Sighing brings bad luck, you fool!”

Seriously, he’s acting like an old man in the weirdest places. Really.

In the end, I followed Guak Chunshik, holding the Tommy, and took down the approaching kobolds.

Guak Chunshik, who watched this, looked at my Tommy with amazement.

“You suddenly pulled out a gun, so I thought it was something, but it’s a relic. It fires magic bullets, right?”

“Yes, sometimes aura mixes in and red bullets fly.”

“What? Aura... Yeah, with you spraying aura everywhere, it’s natural that it would affect the magic.”

Huh?

“...Did I spray aura everywhere?”

“Of course, did you think you could control it while fighting? I was watching from behind, and I was so angry. I almost died from a heart attack, not from the kobolds.”

“You could have told me before.”

“I was planning to. Wait, stop here.”

Guak Chunshik suddenly stopped me and placed his hand on a dummy wall.

“Let’s see... It should be about here.”

“...What?”

“Watch carefully. You’ll be able to do this later.”

At that moment.

────────────!!

A tremendous explosion and dust filled the area, and the wall burst.

A long tunnel, as if a bomb had gone off, appeared straight ahead.

Beyond it, a kobold larger and lighter in color than the others was visible.

“Haha. As I thought, my instincts were right.”

The kobold queen.

She was undoubtedly the boss of this dungeon.

But I was not only amazed by Guak Chunshik’s ability to find the kobold queen immediately.

The tunnel, which remained intact without a single stone falling despite the intense explosion, and the clean interior.

“Let’s go.”

I was utterly baffled by how he controlled his aura to achieve such a feat.

Indeed, this level of skill is what earns the title of a monster.

“Kang! Kangkang! Kang!”

As the kobold queen began to bark upon spotting us, the armored kobolds around her picked up their weapons and entered the tunnel.

Their equipment was clearly superior to the other kobolds.

Especially the shields held by the two at the front seemed capable of deflecting most ranged attacks or magic.

“Shut up. You’re making too much noise.”

Guak Chunshik muttered, spreading his palm and swiping it in a straight line.

“Kee?”

“Kee?”

The kobold guards, puzzled by Guak Chunshik’s actions, tried to raise their shields and advance.

With a swish, the top parts of the shields they were holding were cut off and fell to the ground.

The two guards, tilting their heads in confusion, suddenly collapsed.

Blood was gushing from the sides of their heads.

“...Huh.”

I was dumbfounded by his overwhelming presence.

If I had been those kobolds, could I have blocked it?

No, with just my body or ordinary equipment, it would have been impossible.

Even if I tried to dodge, I would have been hit without knowing what was happening.

“Eugene. At first, I thought you were a raw gem, but you’re already somewhat polished. From now on, what you need is a story to enhance your value as a gem.”

As he said this, a blue mana sword rose from his hand.

“And I will teach you a technique that will help your legend grow.”

Guak Chunshik, looking at the sword on his hand, pulled his right arm back as if it were a bowstring.

His expression was incredibly calm and composed throughout.

Finally, when he pulled his arm back to the limit, he gently, almost shyly, extended his arm forward.

It was a phenomenon.

He just extended his arm, just swung his sword.

Yet, his sword had already reached the neck of the kobold queen standing far away.

There was no scream from the kobold queen, whose throat had been precisely pierced.

She just stood there, looking confused about what had happened.

Thud.

The body of the kobold queen hit the ground.

All the nearby kobolds began to scream, wail, and tear their hair out.

And all these sounds──

“Dokyakcheongcheong (獨也靑靑)”

──disappeared with his single word.

The blue sword that had not yet been retrieved from the kobold queen.

Innumerable branches sprang from it, taking over everything and taking the lives of the crowd that had invaded its territory.

As Guak Chunshik gently released the power from his right hand, the blue tree that had taken over everything melted into the air as if it had accomplished its mission, and he turned to me with a calm expression.

“Aura technique. This is the skill you will learn from me.”

Guak Chunshik.

My mentor, smiled gently as he said this.