Hunter Academy’s Battle God

The abandoned hospital, which had fallen into chaos…

The D Class students managed to calm down and strike back. However, Sumire was giving each undead monster detailed instructions on how to fight.

“M-Mr. Death Knight! Please push the opponent back with your shield! An-and… skeleton archers, support him from as far a distance as possible!”

All of the close-range fighters collapsed like a house of cards as the death knight swung its shield.

“Waagh! Keuk!”

As the formation broke, the students lending support from the back were slowly whittled down by the skeleton archers, with their barriers breaking left and right.

“How the hell is F Class this strong?”

“Ack! Where’s Kang MinSu?”

Sumire kept pressing forwards while leading the undead monsters. Of course, one of them would fall to the enemy’s attacks every once in a while, but Sumire still had a large reserve of mana.

Woosh!

Sumire’s ring shone, and black mana began to pour from it. As it did so, even more undead began to crawl out of the ground.

“No way…”

The formation had already collapsed.

When Sumire’s army began to swarm the D Class students, they lost the will to fight. Sumire quickly turned towards the exit, wanting to leave the building. Lin Xiao nodded at her with a proud expression on his face.

“You’re doing very well by yourself.”

Even the notoriously difficult Lin Xiao had to praise her exploits.

“…Th-thank you very much.”

 Sumire scratched her head, bashful, and placed a hand on the wall to support herself. A long, dark hallway stretched out before her. All she had to do was cross it, and she would complete her mission.

‘Quickly…’

Sumire began walking down the hallway with her death knight, who was the strongest undead she had control over. Her steps quickened, and she reached halfway. As she did so, the door to her escape suddenly opened.

Rattle! Boom!

The person who had opened the door was Kang MinSu.

He was the second-in-command of D Class that the class president, Park HaWon, herself had acknowledged. He looked at Sumire from a distance.

“Checkmate,” he muttered.

Snap!

Kang MinSu snapped his fingers. The lights turned on, bathing the pitch-black hallway with green light.

“This is…”

Frazzled, Sumire began to check the lights. Kang MinSu gripped the air with his right hand.

“Catch her!” he shouted.

Wriggle wriggle!

Mana began to emit from his hand. Suddenly, vines began to grow and cover the entire hallway.

“Cl… clack!”

“M-master!”

The skeletons and the death knight were already completely captured by the vines. Lin Xiao stared up at the ceiling, impressed. He was completely fine.

“So you planted hunter gear in advance… Good thinking, anyone who tries to leave this building has to pass this hallway, after all.”

“Ah, m-my undead are…”

Sumire panicked while looking at her trapped subjects. Kang MinSu’s plant trap had dealt a huge blow to her. 

“…Oh, I forgot to deal with the most important one.”

The D Class student turned his gaze towards Sumire and gripped the air again.

Woosh!

His mana enabled the vines to grow even more.

His plant-related Trait summoned a mass of brambles that wrapped itself around Sumire’s right arm.

“H-heek!”

A burning pain began to crawl up her arm.

The plant inflamed her mana, relaying near-unbearable pain through it to the host. Kang MinSu coolly stared her down.

“…Give up and turn off your barrier. My plants are thrice as strong under these lights.”

If she turned off the barrier from her Pocket, she would be disqualified from the test. That meant that her plan to rescue the hostage would also be a failure.

‘…Give up?’

Even in the midst of dizzying pain, Shin YuSung came to her mind. To Sumire, nothing was as terrifying as disappointing the boy who had put his trust in her. 

‘I-I don’t want to do that…’

The brambles kept squeezing her arm, but Sumire endured the pain, forcing back her tears.

Kang MinSu grimaced at her stubborn attitude and began to nag her.

“Didn’t you hear me? Just acknowledge that you’ve lost, and I’ll clear these pl—”

“…N-no thanks.”

Sumire glared at the boy, even as drops of water began to fall down her face. Kang MinSu began to mock her in response.

“…I think you’re misunderstanding something.”

Squeeze!

The brambles wrapped around her arm began crushing it even harder. Sumire gasped out loud in pain. Blood kept running down her limb, but the injury wasn’t important to Sumire.

“Heuk!”

“The reason why everything’s been working out for you until now isn’t due to your skills but due to Shin YuSung.”

Kang MinSu began to belittle her.

He sneered in a sickening manner and gripped the air once more.

“Your strength is only as strong as any schmuck outside of the top 100, just as weak as any other F Class student.”

Squeeeeze!

“Ackk!”

Sumire let out a stilted cry.

The sharp thorns of the plant had already shredded her arm into pieces. On top of that, the bramble was absorbing her mana. She couldn’t put strength in the limb anymore.

Even so, Sumire did not give up. In fact, she was staring back at Kang MinSu, eyes splotched red by her tears.

* * *

* * *

“…I-I already k-know that.”

Sumire knew about her own weakness well before Kang MinSu had told her about it. Ever since she was young, her fearful, passive, and unmotivated personality had caused her to live a life where others had pushed her around. To her, it was inevitable that she would disappoint everyone she came across; she may have already become accustomed to failure.

[Why did it have to be F-rank…]

[What? You went all the way to Korea, and you’re last in the rankings?]

[You really are…]

But even so, it always hurt to see the look of disappointment on someone's face.

‘I am…’

Sumire lowered her head.

Even as she felt that she didn’t deserve to think this, Sumire wanted to be praised and trusted more than anyone; that was why Shin YuSung’s praise towards Sumire was so special to her.

[…It really is a good thing that I signed you up for this raid.]

His voice rang throughout her head. Sumire clenched her right arm and fist. Even when the pain stung enough to make it feel like her limb was being torn off, she gritted her teeth through it without so much as a whimper.

This was Shin YuSung’s plan. Shin YuSung, who had believed in her. Her wounded arm could be treated later, but this was the only chance Sumire had to repay the boy for his help.

“Even so, I can’t give up!”

Woosh! Flare!

Right then—

Mana began to rush and swirl around her arm.

“Wh-what’s going on!?”

Kang MinSu lifted his arms to protect his face from the sudden blast of wind and took a step back.

“Are you actually…?!”

The sole talent that God had bestowed upon Sumire was her mana. She knew very well about the one strength she had.

‘If the vines are going to absorb my mana…’

Sumire’s arm was overflowing with mana. Violent gusts of wind engulfed the area.

Boooooom!

Sumire was pumping out all of the mana in her body, creating a shockwave of sound.

‘Until the limit!’

Bam! Pop!

All of the lights and plants in the hallway exploded. Kang MinSu’s vines had failed to absorb the full extent of Sumire’s mana.

Kang MinSu, face pale in shock, looked at Sumire and began to mutter to himself as if broken.

“N-no way… m-my vines were defeated… by an F Class…”

Sumire, in a daze, began to inspect her body. Green sap from the vines covered her head to toe, and her right arm was a red, bloody mess.

‘But…’

There were no more plants in the hallway.

The undead were freed from their bonds, and Kang MinSu was the only one left that she had to fight.

“Hh, h, uu…”

Sumire, a mess, turned her gaze towards the D Class student. The undead army behind her aimed their fierce vigor towards the last remaining opponent.

“Cl… clack!”

“You will pay with… your death…”

In the end, Kang MinSu took off the Pocket from his wrist and dropped it on the ground; his body followed suit.

“It’s my loss…”

As he made the declaration, Sumire finally began to cry.

“I… I… won…”

The fact that she had managed to complete the mission on her own made this victory even more precious to her. Lin Xiao, who had been watching the two students fight, was crying hot, passionate tears.

“…Sniff! You are just… the most!”

Lin Xiao misunderstood something.

To the man, Sumire’s actions, borne from a desire to do her utmost for Shin YuSung, looked like she was going through all of that suffering because she was treating the test like it was real.

“You’re the greatest, Sumire of F Class! Instructor Lin Xiao will remember this fight for the rest of his life!”

“Th-thank you very much…”

“No wonder Shin YuSung took you to the Association! If he wanted a partner who wasn’t a burden, I bet he needed someone with at least this much resolve!”

“Huh!? I-I’m Shin YuSung-ssi’s part…? …Ah, aheehee, th-that’s going a little too far!”

The corners of Sumire’s mouth were quirked up, and she began to scratch her head in embarrassment. With a proud expression on his face, Lin Xiao checked his Pocket. His face froze.

“In all my years as an instructor… th-this is the first time that I’ve ever seen this result.”

[All members of the D Class battalion have been disqualified. The D Class leader was among those disqualified.]

[The majority of D Class forces have been eliminated. F Class has successfully protected their base.]

[Requesting early termination of the exam if F Class safely returns with the hostage.]

[–Professor So HaeJung–]

Lin Xiao had just read a message sent to him by professor So HaeJung. While he had already expected Shin YuSung to show great prowess during the test, the thought that the boy would eliminate the entire D Class battalion in such a short amount of time had never even crossed his mind.

Lin Xiao, in a cold sweat, turned his gaze towards the exit. Shin YuSung had expertly guided F Class with his plan and made Sumire into a force to be reckoned with. On top of that, he had singlehandedly destroyed D Class.

‘…Just what is the extent of his abilities?’

Even with all of his accomplishments, Shin YuSung had never shown his limits. Even his instructor, Lin Xiao, had no insight into the boy’s seemingly bottomless amount of skill.