Chapter 45: Don’t think about dying nicely, I’ll tear your whole body apart and kill you.

Inside the Black Gate where the students were gathered.

“… It’s been a while since I’ve felt this irritated.”

“I was planning to toy with them slowly… but I guess I’ll just have to kill them all.”

-Flash-

In an instant, the vampire, Derthod, spread his tendrils in all directions.

-Swoosh-

-Stab!-

“Aaaargh!”

Several students who had been hiding lost their lives from the attack.

-Whoosh-

Their energy was absorbed into Derthod’s body.

“Now, shall we have a real fight?”

He grinned as he crouched down.

-Bam!-

Then, in the blink of an eye, he charged at Park Hyeyeon.

“W-watch out!”

Kang Eunbyul, who was next to her, quickly deployed a defensive spell.

-Crack!-

But with just a wave of Derthod’s hand, the defense was shattered.

-Swoosh-

Derthod’s next attack followed right after.

-Clang!-

His sharp claws were about to reach Park Hyeyeon, but she managed to block it with a spell. She summoned an Ice Spear spell, using external mana to control dozens of ice spears to fend off his attack.

“Oh… so this is possible?”

Seeing the dozens of floating ice spears, even after he had broken several, Derthod looked on with surprise.

“You’ve developed beyond the humans I knew before. Or maybe you’re just exceptional?”

Ignoring his words, Park Hyeyeon extended her hand.

-Swoosh-

In an instant, the ice spears flew at Derthod at high speed.

-Clash!-

But they shattered under Derthod’s touch once more.

Park Hyeyeon called out to her fellow disciples, including those who studied under Choi Joowon like herself.

“Please assist me. Right now, I’m the one here who can best utilize external mana. We can’t kill that creature with ordinary magic.”

Seo Chanu shouted back.

“I’ll join you at the front. If we keep going like this, we’re all going to die here. I have something important I must accomplish.”

Lim Sea, Min Dayun, and Kang Eunbyul exchanged glances. Speaking for the group, Min Dayun responded.

“We’ll support you from the back. We’ll focus on shields, attacks, and healing spells.”

Within seconds, they divided roles, reorganizing their attack structure and stepping forward skillfully.

“Foolish humans. Do you really think you can defeat me with just this handful of people?”

Derthod laughed as he stretched his hand toward the sky, gathering blood in mid-air.

-Splash!-

Following his fingers, the blood shot forward toward Park Hyeyeon and Seo Chanu.

[Blizzard]

When Park Hyeyeon cast the spell, the surroundings quickly turned into a frozen landscape. Ice spears, far more potent than before, launched toward Derthod.

-Slash!-

Derthod brushed them away with his hand and charged forward.

“You won’t get past me!”

Seo Chanu stepped in his path, attempting to cast a spell.

-Thud!-

Derthod grabbed his face and threw him against the wall with a heavy crash.

-Bam!-

Seo Chanu was slammed against the wall, and Derthod extended his tendrils, preparing to absorb his energy.

At that moment…

[Wind Cutter]

-Slice-

With a sharp sound, a small cut appeared on Derthod’s tendril.

-Drop drip-

Derthod withdrew his tendrils, abandoning his attempt to absorb energy, and looked at Park Hyeyeon.

“Interesting. I thought wizards couldn’t just throw around magic like that. So, how are you able to cast so many spells at once?”

Derthod was a creature who hadn’t encountered a wizard in ages. In his experience, wizards who cast spells in rapid succession quickly exhausted themselves. But the girl before him kept hurling magic without showing signs of fatigue.

‘Not powerful enough to be lethal, though.’

To Derthod, a high-ranking vampire, Park Hyeyeon’s attacks weren’t life-threatening but were enough to be irritating.

‘Fascinating.’

As he watched Park Hyeyeon preparing another spell, a fireball suddenly shot toward him from afar.

-Flare-

Im Sea-ah, trembling, had launched her magic at Derthod.

-Sizzle-

Even though the flames hit his face directly, Derthod coldly tilted his head, unfazed.

“You must have a death wish.”

-Whoosh-

With a rush of wind, Derthod moved swiftly, aiming to strike Im Sea-ah’s abdomen.

-Clang!-

Kang Eunbyul, who was beside her, cast a defensive spell just in time to block his attack.

-Spin-

In an instant, Derthod twisted his whole body, quickly redirecting himself to charge at Kang Eunbyul.

-Boom!-

He struck her with a powerful kick, sending her flying.

-Cough-!!

Kang Eunbyul crashed to the ground, spitting blood as she lost consciousness.

Surveying his surroundings, Derthod spoke.

“From what I can see, excluding the hidden trash, there are only three of you left who can fight.”

The remaining three were Park Hyeyeon, Im Sea-ah, and Min Dayun.

“Hmm… I could handle you lot anytime, but there’s no reason not to fight to my advantage.”

With that, Derthod spread his tendrils once again.

-Slash-

-Stab!-

-Splat!-

“Aaaaah!”

“Nooo!”

Screams of terror erupted as his tendrils reached out, bringing agony wherever they struck. Derthod’s form grew larger, and his dark aura surged with even more intense malice.

“Ah… what a beautiful sound….”

He smiled as the sounds of pain filled the air. With his recent attack, most of the people in the area had perished.

While Park Hyeyeon, Im Sea-ah, and Min Dayun managed to block the tendrils aimed at the unconscious Seo Chanu and Kang Eunbyul, they couldn’t protect everyone. The weaker Helmut Academy junior students became fodder for Derthod.

“There is no hope for you anymore. Now that I’ve consumed this much energy, I’m confident I won’t lose to anyone.”

Derthod laughed and turned his gaze to Im Sea-ah.

-Swoosh-

In an instant, he seemed to teleport behind her, raising his foot and bringing it down forcefully.

-Crash!-

Im Sea-ah was slammed into the ground.

-Thud-

Derthod then lifted her up and hurled her toward Min Dayun.

-Thud!-

As Minda-yun began to lose her balance and fall, Dertod moved to pierce her abdomen with his hand.

[Magic Shield]

In desperation, Minda-yun cast a defensive spell, but it wasn’t strong enough to withstand Dertod’s powerful assault.

-Crack!-

The Magic Shield shattered instantly.

-Thud!-

Dertod’s hand reached toward Minda-yun’s body—or so he intended.

-Whoosh-

-Boom!-

Just then, a fire spell shot from afar, forcing him back. When he looked, he saw Park Hye-yeon standing there.

“Cough!”

Thanks to Park Hye-yeon’s intervention, Minda-yun avoided a fatal blow, but she, too, was now incapacitated. Now, only Park Hye-yeon remained.

[Hellfire]

Absorbing mana from the air around her, she cast Hellfire.

-Whoosh-

But Dertod tore through the spell and charged toward Park Hye-yeon.

‘He just tore Hellfire apart?’

Even flames couldn’t hold back the malevolent aura surrounding him. Its power was nothing short of catastrophic.

-Crash!-

Park Hye-yeon was struck down to the ground by Dertod’s kick. She gripped her trembling body and managed to stand back up.

“Oh…”

Dertod looked at her, surprised.

“How are you still able to stand?”

The monster murmured, but Park Hye-yeon ignored him, raising her hand.

“I… Ice… Spear…”

Instinctively, she’d wrapped mana around herself at the moment of impact, deflecting the worst of the attack. However, in doing so, she had drained her mana to the limit, leaving her unable to use high-level magic. Still, she chanted.

-Clang-

Several ice spears formed in the sky. Dertod brushed them aside with a finger, stepping closer.

“Lightning… Cannon…”

-Bzzzzt-

A bolt of lightning shot towards Dertod.

-Crack!-

He easily disintegrated it in mid-air.

-Thud-

Exhausted, Park Hye-yeon fell to her knees. Yet she kept her body upright, refusing to collapse.

-Drip-

Having spent all her mana, blood trickled from her eyes and ears. Her body was at its limit. Even so, she continued drawing in mana from her surroundings, using it to cast spells, even as her body began to break down from the strain.

But she didn’t care about her deteriorating condition.

‘I… I have to survive… If I die here… my father’s revenge…’

She held onto the memory of her father, who had done everything for her. He had died a wrongful death in a dungeon, trying to earn money for her academy tuition.

Driven by her resolve for vengeance, which she saw as her final repentance to her father, Park Hye-yeon kept going.

“Teleport.”

-Whoosh-

She teleported to a nearby spot.

“Gah…!”

She instantly coughed up blood.

“Ha… Ha…”

She tried to recover her strength with shaky breaths, but her body had been pushed past its limits. Moving even a step was now a struggle.

To make matters worse, Dertod quickly tracked her down.

-Step, step-

Standing before Park Hye-yeon, Dertod spoke.

“Earlier, you were fighting tooth and nail, but now you’re running for your life. Pathetic and cowardly. You’re just like livestock.”

Dertod glanced at his claws as he spoke.

“Do you know what I despise the most? Weaklings. Even worse are weaklings who struggle to survive. If you dared attack someone as noble as me, shouldn’t you have been prepared to be torn apart? Yet here you are, barely clinging to life. If you’re weak, you die. Why do you resist such a simple truth?”

“Sh… Shut up…”

Still filled with determination, Park Hye-yeon glared at Dertod with a defiant gaze.

[If you’re weak, you die.]

It felt as if he was speaking to her father, and Park Hye-yeon’s emotions surged.

“Filthy monster… I’ve seen plenty like you… Each one was nothing but trash, impossible to reason with.”

Born with power but lacking basic humanity, a worthless piece of trash.

“Fools like you are no different from livestock.”

At that moment, Derthod’s gaze changed.

“How dare a mere human bark like that?”

“You pathetic worm. From now on, I’ll pluck out your eyes and slice off your limbs one by one. I’ll make you scream for your life in agony. No, I’ll make sure you beg for death, torturing you until the end.”

With those words, Derthod condensed the blood in the air once more, transforming it into the shape of a sword.

Then, he swung the bloody blade toward Park Hye-yeon’s eyes.

‘So… this is how I die so futilely.’

Because she wanted to attend the academy, her father was killed, and she was abandoned by her mother.

After that, she was used by countless people outside and had to struggle to find a single meal or a drop of water while living as a homeless person.

Even after ending her life on the streets, she never spent a single day in comfort. She received help from no one, and each day felt like a descent into an abyss.

An endless fall into a pit where no end was in sight. She had lived a life that constantly sank into the muck.

It was incredibly cruel for her to end her life tragically without even fulfilling her last hope of revenge against her father.

‘Someone… just once… just once….’

The previously stoic Park Hye-yeon now wept as she repeated.

‘Just once… if someone could help me… anyone would do… just once….’

Desperate for help, she wished fervently just before dying.

This damned life, trapped in darkness without a shred of light. Just once would be enough. She hoped someone would save her. If God existed, she begged for just one chance.

-SSSWWWIIISH

However, disregarding her prayers, Derthod’s sword lunged quickly toward Park Hye-yeon’s eyes.

At that moment.

-BOOM—!

-SLASH

With an enormous explosion, the sound of something being sliced apart could be heard.

“GAAAHHH—!”

When she opened her eyes, Derthod was writhing in pain, swinging his arm around.

‘Who… who is it?….?’

Startled by the sudden situation, Park Hye-yeon looked toward where the magic had come from.

There stood a man wearing a mask.

The masked man, Choi Juwon, looked around.

Numerous people lay fallen, turned into bloody heaps.

After taking them in with his eyes, Choi Juwon whispered coldly toward Derthod.

“Don’t think about dying peacefully. I’ll tear you apart and kill you.”