Acquired the Scam Rune in the Academy

Mirror Battle in the Sky (1)

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The end of the maze was too vast to be called a maze.

The front was wide open, and the ceiling rose endlessly.

If there had been only sunlight or moonlight, it would have been believable as open ground outside, given its expanse.

And in the center, a man revealing an overwhelming presence.

‘…Hwang Seong-yeon.’

The former sub-master of <Villain>, Hwang Seong-yeon.

Still a wanted criminal domestically and…

He stood at the end of this vast maze, atop a distant undead legion.

I slowly surveyed the undead under Hwang Seong-yeon, and soon became bewildered.

‘Damn… There are too many.’

The final area boasts the largest space in the maze zone.

The sheer quantity of undead nearly filling that space was literally staggering.

At least on par with the legion encountered at the entrance of <Land Touched by Death>, with even more undead behind him that couldn’t be properly seen.

It felt like all the undead hunted in the maze so far might not match the numbers before my eyes.

Moreover, their types were diverse.

From ghostly forms like specters and wraiths, to skeletal forms like death knights and liches, to monstrous forms like zombies and revenants….

Various types of undead beasts stood in formation far below Hwang Seong-yeon.

There were too many for our clan to face relatively.

“I knew you’d find this place quickly. Waiting was quite boring.”

As I was assessing the enemy forces in shock,

Hwang Seong-yeon speaks first with a grin.

Despite the considerable distance between us, his voice was heard clearly as if using a microphone.

“So you’ve decided to go under Ludenark completely? Fighting alongside the undead, seems you’ve thrown away your pride.”

I chose words to provoke him as much as possible.

Honestly, I wanted to fight immediately without even replying… But given the sudden combat situation, my <Evil Hunter> clan members also needed some preparation.

An efficient battle in optimal conditions.

It was a war of words to buy even a little preparation time.

“That’s quite boring as far as provocation goes. You must have expected this too.”

“……”

Unfortunately.

That provocation didn’t have much effect.

In fact, I had expected this to some extent.

I thought Hwang Seong-yeon, who had joined hands with the Ludenark school, would be somewhere in the <Room of Deserters>, and if <Land Touched by Death> was truly the domain of Vice-Master Dave…

<Maze Touched by Death> would be Hwang Seong-yeon’s area of activity.

I thought it was a plausible guess.

That’s why I was particularly satisfied when I obtained the divine sword at the entrance.

Because it seemed I would soon meet Hwang Seong-yeon wielding the demon sword.

“Wow… So that’s the person who’s in cahoots with the client. Interesting.”

Meanwhile.

Ripley, who had been quiet beside me, sparkled her eyes.

That murmur made me wonder for a moment.

‘…Is this her first time seeing Hwang Seong-yeon too?’

She was a vampire who had temporarily joined hands with Ludenark, and the maze creator who had directly guided us here.

The client was probably Dave, the vice-Master of Ludenark, but from her words, it seemed this was her first time seeing Hwang Seong-yeon.

It seems she didn’t leave this place even after creating the maze, and communicated remotely with the Ludenark school.

“Interesting. Have you made a contract with the maze creator?”

But Hwang Seong-yeon knew about Ripley.

Seeing her unique appearance and standing next to me, he immediately grasped the relationship.

For a gloomy criminal, his insight was annoyingly quick.

“There doesn’t seem to be a need to tell you.”

“Still prickly as ever.”

“Think about what you’ve done. How could I speak kindly?”

“Is that so. I prepared a special gift for you, but it seems you’re not particularly interested.”

To hell with gifts.

Looking at his shameless face and tone, he really does seem like a criminal.

Ignoring Hwang Seong-yeon’s words, I slowly drew my weapon.

A divine sword against a demon sword.

The divine sword [Kelbilid’s True Repentance], the only one that can counter his demon sword [Dine Slaif].

When I first encountered Hwang Seong-yeon, I was completely overwhelmed, bewildered by his unknown abilities… But in our second clash, I found some ways to counter, and now in our third confrontation, I was equipped with a suitable weapon.

Now we could face each other head-on under equal conditions.

But then.

“M-Master. Over there…”

The voice of a clan member calling me and…

A tremendous roar piercing my ears.

The maze was shaking with massive vibrations.

The shockwave was so intense that it reached all our clan members, including the undead in front.

And then.

Gyaooo-!!

A monstrous creature soared high into the sky.

An enormous body filling the entire view, bone fragments piled within, claws that seemed able to tear anything apart, red inner light, and tattered yet chilling wings….

An undead form, very familiar, as if seen somewhere before.

This was clearly…

The king of undead, a ‘Bone Dragon’.

“No… Way.”

Like the clan member who first discovered it, my eyes were filled with shock.

The Bone Dragon that Hwang Dong-yeon had contracted with the [Death Revival] skill during the past ‘Villain Subjugation Operation’.

Although it was a monster created by the Ludenark school, its power and aura as a commander were so strong that even Hwang Dong-yeon couldn’t handle it properly.

And that ‘temporary contract’ was broken, and the Bone Dragon had contracted with me.

But now there’s ‘another’ Bone Dragon?

However, that wasn’t the end of it.

There was an even bigger problem.

“I told you, Do Jae-hyun! That I prepared a gift! How do you like it? I find it quite entertaining!”

Riding atop the bone dragon, Hwang Seong-yeon shouts towards me.

This meant that Hwang Seong-yeon was now directly controlling that bone dragon.

As far as is known, he shouldn’t have any runes related to contracts, but whether the Ludenark school had taken some measures, he was skillfully handling and moving the bone dragon.

“Damn it…”

There were more than a few questions, but I couldn’t just stand there gawking.

Anyway, what’s in front of me is clearly a bone dragon, and judging by its form and aura, it’s much more powerful than the first bone dragon.

Moreover, the rider of the bone dragon is the owner of the demon sword.

This was certainly not a combination to be ignored.

For someone with strong power like Hwang Seong-yeon to gain mobility and combat versatility meant that the already difficult battle would become much more complicated.

If I stayed still like this, it was clear that my clan members would be in danger.

“Call of the Contract…!!”

I shouted with all my might and leaped from my spot.

The contractor I summoned was, of course, Tyrbon.

It was the only monster capable of reclaiming the already dominated aerial domain.

Gyaooo-!!

Tyrbon’s rough roar was heard, and I lightly mounted it and began to fly.

‘Tyrbon. We absolutely must not lose.’

-Don’t compare me to such a fake, master.

Although it was an unexpected mirror match, Tyrbon showed no fear at all.

Rather, it seemed ready to tear apart the opponent at any moment.

I smiled at its overflowing confidence.

And I focus my eyes forward.

A battle between bone dragon and bone dragon.

It was the beginning of a fight with an unpredictable outcome.

***

Ippotranslation

***

Gyaooo-!!

Kyaooo-!!

A scene of hell unfolds in the sky.

Two massive bone dragons were clashing, fiercely attacking each other.

And with this as the starting point.

The battle of the <Evil Hunter> clan members also began.

While Hwang Seong-yeon had risen to the sky riding the bone dragon, an overwhelming number of undead still remained below.

“All warrior classes, charge forward! Form a coordinated formation!”

Yoo Eun-seol’s urgent voice echoes across the battlefield.

With Clan Master Do Jae-hyun leaping into the sky to face Hwang Seong-yeon, the overall command of the clan naturally fell to her, the vice master.

And in the current situation, they needed to engage in clan combat rather than team battles.

Yoo Eun-seol, befitting her experience as an S-grade Holder who had long led unaffiliated Holders, unhesitatingly assigned clan members to their respective roles and led the battle.

Kak, Kageu-!

Keugeugeug-!!

The ranks of undead begin to pour into the front lines.

There were notably many skeletons in the initial formation, probably because they were the armed monsters among the undead and excelled in initial attacks.

And that’s not the end of it.

Leading the battle at the forefront…

A group of several Death Knights.

High-ranking monsters appeared right from the start.

“Hup…!!”

And as soon as the Death Knights appeared, Park Jin-woo immediately rushed forward with his sword.

He had been facing Death Knights ever since arriving at <Maze Touched by Death>.

Among the warrior-class clan members here, he had probably faced the most Death Knights.

‘I need to kill them as quickly as possible.’

While the power of Death Knights varied by individual, they were powerful undead monsters ranging from at least A-grade to S-grade.

That’s why it was important to break their momentum through early surprise attacks.

Especially in a place teeming with legion-level undead like this, allowing Death Knights to roam freely could pose a significant threat to clan members who were still lacking in skill.

[The targets you wish to protect and those defined as enemies are activated. The special effect of the ‘Balance Seeker’ rune is triggered. As a result of target calculation, all your abilities are temporarily increased by 47%.]

And then an information window flashes up.

This was the true power of the [Balance Seeker] rune that Park Jin-woo had acquired.

After first awakening this ability in <Wolfenser>, he had been dealing with this power superficially for a while, but after receiving advice from his father Park Ji-hwan in the maze and facing Death Knights, he was able to unleash its true value.

The most crucial special effect of the [Balance Seeker] rune was that the Holder’s abilities temporarily increased according to the number of defined enemies.

Because it tries to balance between the targets to protect and the enemies, the greater the disparity, the higher the rate of ability increase.

So now, Park Jin-woo was facing enemies with abilities much stronger than usual.

‘I need to finish this quickly and help Jae-hyun.’

Park Jin-woo’s thoughts were directed towards the sky.

Intense collisions were still occurring in the air.

Although he couldn’t fully grasp the momentum, even Park Jin-woo on the ground could easily feel that the dark energy emanating from Hwang Seong-yeon had become much more intense than before.

So while trusting his friend Do Jae-hyun, he had a strong desire to end the ground battle as quickly as possible to help him.

Keu, Kagaga-!!

Kang- Kang-

Kagagang-!!

Quickly, even quicker.

In an instant, he sweeps through 30 skeleton warriors.

His main rune, which evolved from [Unstoppable Swift Sword] to [Shadow-Treading Sword] as he awakened the power of the Seeker.

Though the name changed, its essence of wielding a swift sword remained the same.

Based on explosive ability increase and tremendous speed, Park Jin-woo arrived at the center of the enemy vanguard, sweeping away all the skeletons in the front.

‘Got them.’

And finally.

When he arrived at the group where the Death Knights were gathered.

Park Jin-woo gritted his teeth and uttered a command.

“Chase the darkness…!!”

The ultimate skill that had also changed as the rune evolved.

It was the manifestation of [True Flying Moon Slash].

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