Hunter Academy’s Battle God

After he lost against YuSung’s party, Isshin started spending more time alone in contemplation, which led him to several realizations. One of these realizations was that, even though he was considered the strongest in Choten, he was nothing more than a little fish in a big pond.

[Slash!]

He also learned he could escape from his distracting thoughts by swinging his sword, and he ended up dedicating more time to training than ever before.

First, he cut what he could see; then, he cut through his doubts; finally, he cut apart his lingering attachment to the past.

After he was able to cut through everything in his heart, he’d stood before a towering rock.

[Swish— Paf-!]

He’d taken a ready stance and placed a hand on his scabbard. A moment later, a streak of light flashed through the rock—it was as if his mind and body were one.

The rock fell into two halves on the ground, and Isshin resheathed his sword. it was proof of the enlightenment he’d gained and his advancement, but still…

'I thought I'd be able to cut through anything…' Only a day had passed since then, and his face paled when he saw the giant rabbit bolting down the mountain at him.

"Kyuu!" The rabbit swung its heavy forepaw as if it were a mace.

Paf—!

"Ugh-!" Isshin was blown back by the blow, hurriedly regained his footing, and swung his sword.

Paf—!

Unfortunately, the rabbit’s thick fur easily absorbed the strength of his strike.

"Hahaha! Did you think such a toothpick-like sword would work?!” Ackman taunted. “You were chasing me a few moments ago, and now you're just running away! Should I give you a buff?"

Elan looked down at Isshin with pity. "Swordsman, Kanina is the master of the mountain. You won't be able to escape from her."

Boing—!

As one would expect from a rabbit, she had incredible leaping ability.

Paf—!

Her extremely swift forepaws had an unexpectedly heavy impact. Though Isshin was experienced in combat against all sorts of bosses, he’d never encountered such an opponent.

'What's going on…? The rabbit is so fast that I can’t even see its strikes.'

[Your barrier has been damaged.]

[52% barrier remaining!]

Isshin wiped the blood from his nose and staggered to his feet. 'If he summoned such a powerful being…'

Paf! BOOM—!

Kanina swung her paw again, but Isshin's sword met her strike in mid-air.

When the dust settled, he was enveloped in red light. "There's no way you can keep such a summon active for long, so all I have to do is survive!" Isshin shouted as his sword energy reddened and he used his S-rank ‘Ghostly Energy’ Trait.

"You don’t think we can maintain it?" Ackman smirked at Isshin as if he were mocking him. "Well~ Usually, you'd be right. Kanina's a top-notch rank 5 boss, so summoning her for extended periods should be difficult.”

Though Ackman talked in a relaxed manner, the way he was lying flat on Kanina’s head didn’t look cool at all.

BOOM! Papapaf—!

Kanina stood on her hind legs and unleashed a barrage of rapid strikes. "Kyu-kyu-kyu-kyu! Kyuu~ Kyu!"

Isshin somehow managed to block the strikes, but the strength behind the attacks was enough to injure him. "Cough, ugh-!"

His attacks didn’t work against the rabbit. Even though his Trait made his attacks stronger as he killed and slashed his enemies, it didn’t help if the opponent was too tough to damage. The rabbit’s thick fur was an effective counter to his Trait, but Isshin persisted.

"Kyuu! KyuKyu! Kyuu!" Karina’s forepaws continued to batter him, but he still avoided serious injury.

BOOM! Clang—!

He barely blocked an attack with the flat of his sword. Since he knew escape was impossible, he’d hoped to hold out until the summon vanished, but he was approaching his limit.

[6% barrier remaining!]

"Haa…" He gasped for breath. One or two more attacks would be all it took to eliminate him, and all of his efforts looked like they’d be for naught.

Ackman sighed as if pitying him. "Was your plan trying to deplete his mana?"

Thud—!

He jumped off Kanina's head. "Your determination is impressive, but you're fundamentally wrong. We didn’t use mana to bring this summon here."

"What…?" Isshin found it hard to believe.

"It's true." Elan, who'd been silent until then, dismissed his doubts. “I’m able to borrow her power thanks to the strength of artifacts.”

He opened his hand to reveal a four-leaf-clover-shaped jewel emitting a green light. "I've seen your fighting spirit. We might’ve lost without this artifact.” Elan acknowledged Isshin’s abilities, but that wasn’t important—all Isshin cared about was that he might lose.

"Ugh-!" Isshin clenched his teeth and rushed at the defenseless Ackman, hoping to at least take one of them down with him.

Thud—!

A giant ball of fluff blocked Isshin's sword. "Kyu-!' Then, Kanina kicked down at him.

BOOM—!

[Your barrier has been destroyed.]

[0% barrier remaining!]

Choten's ace, Isshin, was eliminated.

Ackman stretched and felt relieved as Isshin dissolved into particles. "I feel bad for him. No matter how well you fight, you can't beat cheat items."

"Yes. Only a few 1st-year students should be capable of beating the master of the mountain."

"Yeah, probably Gaon's Shin YuSung, Skyscraper Academy's Liú Jùn, and our party's leader, right?"

"Sumire, Gaon’s necromancer, is also unexpectedly strong, but you counter the undead.”

Everyone was wary of Sumire, but Ireland’s Blin Academy had the perfect counter for her—someone with incredible divine power.

"Of course! Destroying necromancers is a priest’s duty." That someone was Ackman, a Blue Apostle.

"We don’t need to worry about YuSung. What can he do if we take out the rest of his party?"

"That's true… Let's start by eliminating their necromancer."

They were planning to eliminate YuSung’s party since they had no clue what to do against YuSung himself. It was truly a tailor-made strategy.

Haa—

Elan breathed mana into the air, which transformed into purple butterflies flitting through the sky.

Those beautiful purple butterflies would guide them to Sumire.

* * *

* * *

YuSung fell into thought after he saw Kanina eliminate Isshin. 'The starting locations were randomly assigned, but they still managed to join up first…’

Ackman and Elan had great synergy when it came to their teamwork and abilities. 'The priest's power can suppress Sumire's undead, and the spirit master's summoned creatures can be buffed by him as well.'

Sumire would have to overwhelm them if she wanted to overcome the situation. It was something an ordinary student would be incapable of, but YuSung believed in her. Excluding luck, Sumire’s strategy of churning out undead and fortifying the swamp gave her the highest probability of winning.

All she needed to do was prove the effectiveness of her plan.

‘The only variable will be when they start fighting.’

It seemed like the other fight would take much longer since SiWoo and Sakura hadn’t encountered the German team yet, which meant Sumire still had the upper hand against Elan and Ackman.

"Hmm…" YuSung fell into deeper thought until someone cautiously knocked on the door.

Knock, knock—

It couldn’t have been any of his party members since Sumire and SiWoo were still in the match, and EunAh would never knock before entering.

"May I come in?" The man’s voice was both familiar and strange.

"Yes, come in."

The man entered and spoke in a familiar tone, as if they’d known each other for a long time. "It's been a while, YuSung."

"You…" YuSung’s expression stiffened as soon as he saw who it was. He hadn’t seen the man in more than 10 years, but he recognized him immediately. Was it because they were related by blood?

"I'm sorry for coming unannounced like this, but… it was the best opportunity I saw for a talk. After all, you're usually very busy, aren't you?" It was YuWol, a skilled hunter who’d reached rank 6 at the young age of 27. That wasn’t how YuSung knew his name, though…

"Did my mother ask you to come here?" YuSung asked.

YuWol was a member of the prestigious YuSu family, which was comparable to the ShinOh family in prestige. YuSung's mother, Yu MinSeo, was originally a rank 7 hunter in that family, so YuWol was a relative YuSung could never forget, even if he wanted to.

"Hmm… would you hate me if I said yes?" YuWol awkwardly smiled. "You’re half right. I guess HaYoon must have already told you. The family wants you back. That includes your mother and, of course, the family head, Shin KangYoon."

YuWol carefully watched YuSung’s expression before he playfully said, "Just between us, they are shameless, aren't they?" His lips crept up into a friendly smile.

YuSung felt a strange sense of discomfort. "What half am I wrong about?"

"I wanted to see you. I haven't investigated them, but there are all sorts of rumors floating around regarding you recently, right? For example…” YuWol placed a finger on his chin as if trying to remember something. "Ah! Right. You caught a member of that bothersome organization, Rebellion, right? You've been doing well."

'This person is dangerous…' YuSung felt that something sinister was hiding behind YuWol’s friendly tone—a softness that concealed a hard edge. It was just a hunch, but his instincts had never been wrong over such things before. It couldn’t even be written off as aversion due to the family YuWol hailed from.

"Is that all?" YuSung asked in a cold tone.

YuWol’s eyes softened. "There's no need to be so guarded… I just wanted to ask…"

Fwoosh—

He ignited a flame of blue mana on his index finger that shifted to white before turning pitch black.

Tss—

A joker card appeared between his fingers as the intense flame died. "Do you know what Shin HaYoon is orchestrating?"

Despite his words, YuWol’s smile was as friendly as ever.