Acquired the Scam Rune in the Academy

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Boom!

It took no time to arrive at Gijangeum Island.

The distance between the tip of Seomodo Island near Ganghwa Island and Gijangeum Island is about 400 meters. It’s so short that it’s embarrassing to move by boat.

I was worried that there might be <Villain> members lying in wait, but the area around the island was just quiet when we arrived.

“I’ll head straight for the center like this.”

Party leader Yoo Eun-seol gave a brief order.

From now on, it’s an all-out war.

“Moon Ga-eun?”

“Yes, yes!”

Moon Ga-eun promptly responded to Yoo Eun-seol’s call.

Even though she’s an academy instructor, archers rarely cross paths with Yoo Eun-seol.

So this current conversation with Yoo Eun-seol was Moon Ga-eun’s first, and naturally her attitude became stiff as if receiving an order.

While I’ve gotten somewhat close with Yoo Eun-seol in a teacher-disciple relationship, to Moon Ga-eun she’s just a sky-high S-grade Holder.

And it’s not just Moon Ga-eun, most of the Holders participating in this operation must be quite nervous.

Being able to work together with an S-grade Holder is a rare opportunity for any holder.

“From now on, the archer class’s role is important. We don’t know what kind of traps the Villains side has set up, so don’t let your guard down and keep using magic detection.”

“Ah, yes!”

“Don’t be too nervous. Holder Ahn Seong-hyun will help you out well. Holder Ahn Seong-hyun?”

“Yes. You can leave it to me.”

The A-grade Holder Ahn Seong-hyun, who came as reinforcement, lightly replied.

He is an archer class Holder belonging to the <Yonggwang Sword> clan.

Considering A-grade Holders among domestic archer classes are by no means common, it was clearly felt that <Yonggwang Sword> is an emerging powerhouse.

In addition to him, Yoo Eun-seol gave detailed instructions to other classes.

‘She’s extremely skilled.’

I was slightly amazed by her.

The S-grade is a grade that can only be achieved by building up excellent skills and accumulating a lot of experience at the same time.

It’s a sky that Holders always reach for, an ivory tower that’s hard to get close to.

Although Yoo Eun-seol is an unaffiliated Holder without a clan…

The S-grade grade was not easily obtained, as she skillfully led the party with a sharp attitude.

I had only seen her strict appearance when teaching me, but seeing her serious demeanor in her main job felt different again.

Tak – tak

Thud –

The sound of equipment moving split the silence.

Our party carefully searched inside the island.

The search direction was straight through the center from the starting point, then right again.

It’s the direction of going around the island once.

10 minutes, 20 minutes…

Time kept passing as we went deeper into the island, but no threatening traps appeared.

But the more that happened, the more tense the party became on the inside.

Yoo Eun-seol stopped searching for a moment to liven up the atmosphere and asked Ahn Seong-hyun, an archer.

“Archer class. Still nothing?”

“Yes, party leader. It doesn’t seem there are any special traps. However…”

“However?”

Yoo Eun-seol asked back at Ahn Seong-hyun’s words.

Moon Ga-eun took over.

“It looks like there’s a magic-concentrated structure in the center.”

“Structure….”

“Yes. I felt it from the entrance of the island, but the aura gets stronger as we go closer to the center. It’s an overwhelming amount of magic. I’m not sure if this is the Villains’ base, but there’s definitely something with concentrated magic.”

The atmosphere of the party changed once again.

A structure made up of an overwhelming amount of magic.

In other words, it was almost exactly the location Professor Kang Dong-wook had indicated through the bug.

As Moon Ga-eun said, it wasn’t certain whether this was the <Villain>’s base, but there was definitely something on Gijangeum Island.

“Then let’s keep going…”

As Yoo Eun-seol was about to give orders again at that moment.

They suddenly seemed to feel a vibration of strong magic.

Ahn Seong-hyun and Moon Ga-eun looked up at the same time.

“Party leader… !!”

“……!!”

And that wave wasn’t only felt by the archer class.

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

The warriors in front all raised their respective weapons and the mages in the back began to array magic.

Other classes also prepared for battle in their own ways.

That’s right.

Battle preparation.

We all prepared for battle.

The reason was simple.

Suddenly, in the quiet center of the island…

The ‘enemy’ appeared.

“Oh, oh you’re… You’re really here, everyone’s… Everyone’s here like brother said….”

A grating voice was heard from somewhere amidst the tense confrontation.

In front of our party’s position.

He was a short man with thick brown hair falling to his eyes.

Tak – clack

And that wasn’t all.

With the sound of heavy equipment moving, countless Holders appeared along with him.

The Holders were in a variety of places.

Of course there were some where the man in front was, and next to him.

And next to them, diagonally…

Even behind our party, Holders took up positions.

‘…Fuck.’

Unintentionally, profanity came out internally.

Our party was surrounded.

Innumerable Holders appeared around us.

Since arriving at Gijangeum Island and starting the search…

It was the biggest crisis situation.

‘There was another unauthorized warp gate.’

The group of Holders that suddenly appeared.

They were most likely <Villain> clan members who came through a [Warp Gate].

Given that there were no traces of magic until now and then they suddenly popped up, it was certain.

‘Still less than I expected.’

I felt it wasn’t a completely hopeless situation.

Perhaps they arrived in a hurry, fortunately the numbers aren’t overwhelming.

Adding up the encirclement numbers in front, behind and to the sides…

Around 40 people?

Considering the estimated 200 <Villain> clan members, it’s clearly an insufficient number.

It’s still a burdensome number, but it was a scenario we expected to some extent.

‘We have to buy time.’

The large-scale Anti-Villain raid operation is carried out simultaneously on the uninhabited islands near Ganghwa Island and Incheon.

Parties composed of at least 15 people assault the islands to conduct searches, and when a contingency occurs, they gather again in one place.

Therefore, our party had to buy time here on Gijangeum Island.

Until reinforcements from other parties arrive, we have to hold out against these guys while minimizing damage as much as possible.

“Ho, how di, did you know to co, come here?”

The man with thick brown hair who spoke first opened his mouth again.

“It must have been because of the item.”

Then the man next to him picked up the conversation.

Similar looks and hair color.

However, opposite with his large height and shoulders, and a huge, bulky sword hanging over them.

An overwhelming aura dominated the area around him.

‘Hwang Seong-yeon.’

Even though it was the first time seeing his face, I immediately recognized him.

Aside from anything else, the ominous magic sword could only belong to Hwang Seong-yeon.

Then the short man he called brother must be…

Clan master Hwang Dong-yeon of the Villains.

The clan master and submaster of the <Villain> were standing in front of our party together.

“A, an item?”

“Yeah. That thing called the Order of Harmony or something. There’s nothing else that can figure out our location.”

“I, I see. Hu, humans are pre, pretty smart too. We, we’ll all die an, anyway… hehehe.”

“…….”

Hwang Dong-yeon, who stuttered so much it was hard to listen to, spat out strange words while looking at us.

We tensely looked around with guarded expressions.

While these guys are exchanging pointless chatter now…

The battle could have started at any moment, it wouldn’t have been strange.

“Hmm – Hwang Seong-yeon. I told you I’d kill that bastard Do Jae-hyun. I called dibs earlier.”

A familiar voice chimed in as well.

Next to Hwang Seong-yeon and Hwang Dong-yeon stood the woman with sharp features.

It was Cha Soo-yeon, who yesterday…

Whom I Inflicted a fatal wound on and ran away.

With the vivid memory of a hole in her chest as she bled profusely…

She was somehow standing in front of us in perfect condition again.

‘She came back well.’

Seeing her, I clicked my tongue as if it was a waste.

She managed to recover from her injuries and rejoin.

I should have just killed her yesterday.

She glared at me with hatred and resentment, grinding her teeth.

It seems the anger towards me built up quite a lot yesterday.

But then again…

A key executive of the <Villain> almost died in 1 second to an academy student Holder being called a promising talent…

It makes sense her pride took a huge blow.

“Still not using honorifics, huh.”

“No need to be more courteous, right? This clan is already screwed anyway.”

“…..That’s an unamusing thing to say.”

I could hear Hwang Seong-yeon and Cha Soo-yeon chatting.

I clicked my tongue again internally.

‘…..Crazy bastards.’

Talking nonsense like that with enemies right in front.

They were quite full of themselves.

Or perhaps there was no need to rush, that could also be why.

As they said, with the <Villain> clan itself being in crisis, they might have become desensitized to the urgency of the situation altogether.

In any case, this kind of attitude from the enemies…

It was an opportunity for us.

Koo, koooong!!

Craaack!

“Wha, what is…”

“The ground…!”

The calm ground suddenly shook violently.

Soon, accompanied by intense roars, the surface started cracking.

It was because I, who finished preparing, used a skill.

‘Power Break.’

[Power Break].

The branch skill of [Elemental Master], now a subordinate rune of [Fragmented Earth Garden].

It completely splits the ground in the middle, changes the surrounding terrain, and overturns the battle situation on the ground altogether.

It was a powerful skill that alters the battle dynamics.

I used this skill to split our party’s ‘left’ side.

Normally it would be correct to split the back.

Anyway, we were surrounded, and to secure the safety of the rear personnel, blocking the access path behind us was necessary.

However, that’s an extremely defensive tactic.

Once a skill is used that way, no aggressive formation can be created anymore.

And the strategy we set up before coming here was…

‘Attack’ from the very start.

“Master!”

“Mm…!”

After I gave the signal when preparation ended, Yoo Eun-seol immediately moved.

Through runes of the evasion method, she went into the gap in the split ground.

That’s right.

She ‘went in’ precisely.

The earth was torn, and something like a crevice or cliff was created… Yoo Eun-seol attempted parkour while going inside it.

For the assassin class with runes of the evasion method and magic utilization pushed to the extreme, that level of wall climbing was a piece of cake.

‘Once inside… Vision gets blocked.’

Vision gets blocked.

This statement means the same as being able to utilize [Stealth] runes.

And when assassins use [Stealth]…

They can demonstrate their inherent abilities to the fullest.

Through [Power Break], I created…

A space to hide in the currently wide open spot.

Yoo Eun-seol, who went in and used [Stealth] there…

It was the optimal environment to ‘assassinate’ someone.

“Huk… !!”

In an instant, Yoo Eun-seol headed towards the Villains’ leader.

Changing the terrain and somehow assassinating key enemy figures.

That was the reason an ‘S-grade assassin class’ Holder was deployed to our party… And Plan A when contingencies occurred.

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