Crack—! Crunch—!
The Witch of Exhaustion, like a fly sprayed with insecticide, weakly plummeted downward. But her eyes were wide open, locked onto me.
“You… tricked me…!”
I glared back with the same wide-eyed expression and responded in the same tone.
“You… got tricked…! You actually fell for that?”
“Y-You little—!”
Trembling uncontrollably with fury, the Witch of Exhaustion clenched her teeth so hard it sounded like they’d shatter.
Then, as if she had made up her mind, she bit down with resolve.
In the next moment, a massive surge of energy erupted from her.
Whooooooosh—!Her falling body floated back into the air.
Not only had she recovered completely from near-death, but she now looked even more powerful than before.
On the outside, maybe.
Internally, she must’ve been falling apart fast.
She’d realized she had no way of getting out alive and resorted to her final trump card.
I was so moved, I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye.
Giving me a parting gift like this… how generous.
Just how much more was she planning to hand over?
What the Witch of Exhaustion had just used was a skill on my bucket list.
It had a high rank, and it wasn’t a unique skill either, making it perfect for copying.
But since I didn’t have any free slots, I needed to make room first.
[Used ‘Fixed Pin’.]
[The ‘Harmonized Flow (S)’ has been fixed.]
[Activated ‘Copy – Skill’.]
[The target’s skill ‘Vendetta (S)’ has been registered in the slot.]
[Skills]
▷ Harmonized Flow (S)
▷ Copy – Skill [4/4]
1. Feather Step (B+)
2. Destructive Gale (C+)
3. Ice Wall (B)
4. Vendetta (S)
The skill Vendetta (S) has two main effects.
The first consumes 40% of your current health to boost the rank of all your skills and traits for a certain duration.
If your health is at 100, sacrificing 40 is a bad trade.
But if you’re on the brink of death, say with only 20 health left, paying 8 isn’t a bad choice.
If it gets you out of a crisis or turns the tide, it’s a good deal.
The second effect gives an additional boost to skills and traits proportional to the damage you’ve already taken.
The Witch of Exhaustion had taken a serious beating up to now. So her stat boosts must’ve been through the roof.
She gathered pitch-black energy into her hands and struck the Sword Queen with it.
Booooom—!
“……!”
The unexpected destructive power sent the Sword Queen’s body flying far into the distance.
After launching the principal the same way, the Witch of Exhaustion charged toward me, radiating killing intent in thick waves.
“You…you of all people—!”
Just like the Shadow Lord, it seemed she was planning to drag me along with her on her way out.
Faculty members and parents instantly gathered around me.
Close-combat classes formed a defensive formation, while mages layered protective shields over one another.
The next moment, the witch’s attack came crashing down.
Boooom—!
The barrier shattered instantly, and the guards were thrown back in a heap.
Even Father Hong and Father Song didn’t look like they’d last much longer.
Even so, I spoke in a deliberately nonchalant tone.
“Why are you so obsessed with dragging me along? I said I’m not going.”
I’m not into undead stuff or dying together, okay?
I plan to live a long, long life after achieving world peace, of course and doing whatever I want, just like the greedy guy I am.
Maybe my attitude only fueled her rage further, because the Witch of Exhaustion’s face twisted in fury.
She started gathering dark energy again—
Booooooom—!
But the Sword Queen dashed in and landed a solid kick that sent her flying.
“There’s a limit to how much you can ignore someone.”
No matter how powerful the buffs she had, she was still up against an S-rank.
There was no way it would end with just one kick.
“……!”
The Witch of Exhaustion flew through the air in an arc before stopping mid-air.
Panting heavily with rage, she suddenly looked up drawn by the sense of a brilliant golden light shining down on her.
There stood the principal, holding a massive holy sword upside down.
“I’m here too, you know.”
The holy sword turned into a golden pillar as it came crashing down.
Whoooooooosh—!
At last, seemingly reaching her limit, the witch’s entire body began to crumble and scatter into the air.
Even in her final moments, she stretched a hand out toward me.
“I… I can’t… end like this…!”
“The path to the afterlife is always hollow, you know. Say hi to Corruption for me. And tell her to practice cooking a bit more.”
“……!”
The Witch of Exhaustion opened her mouth, as if trying to say something, but couldn’t get her final words out before she vanished completely.
That’s kind of a shame.
If her shadow had remained, I could’ve extracted it.
I’d even come up with a nickname for her.
The Qyu-Exhaustion shadow.
Guess I’ll just have to let her go now.
Of course, even without the Qyu-Exhaustion shadow, there was still a lot to settle.
In the corner of my vision, a notification message appeared.
[Main Quest 3] (Complete)
[Reward calculation begins.]
Originally, the main quest was supposed to occur after the Blood Sect elders and the witches had thoroughly ravaged the Dungeon Island.
It would’ve likely involved reclaiming the stolen divine relics or retaking the occupied dungeons.
However, I used every available resource, starting with the Sword Queen and the principal, to take them down before anything even started.
The process was different, but the goal was achieved all the same, so the system decided to acknowledge it.
[You have neutralized the Illusion Demon in a head-on confrontation.]
[Rewards will be significantly enhanced.]
[You have dealt significant damage to the Shadow Lord.]
[Rewards will be significantly enhanced.]
[You contributed to the subjugation of the Witch of Exhaustion.]
[Rewards will be enhanced.]
[You drastically reduced the clearance time.]
[Rewards will be enhanced.]
Even after that, messages kept popping up saying the rewards were being enhanced.
And finally…
[You have acquired ‘Bond’.]
It finally came through.
A skill and trait exclusive to Monarchs.
It’s also the skill Dang Gyu-young wouldn’t shut up about, saying she would claim it first.
I should probably confirm it properly when I see her in person.
Once the witch who had been the central force was gone, the remaining undead were quickly wiped out.
We left the cleanup to the faculty and moved to the principal’s office.
The principal twisted and rubbed his body with a tired expression.
“Oof, oof, my whole body aches. Getting old really takes a toll on you.”
“At your age, you’re still in your prime. Honestly, such whining…”
The Sword Queen frowned and scolded him, seemingly annoyed at the mention of age.
Even so, the principal didn’t stop his self-massage.
“I’m not whining; I’m really hurt. Honestly, I did most of the tanking, didn’t I?”
Now that she heard it, she had to admit he had a point, so the Sword Queen fell silent.
Instead, the vice principal, who was standing nearby, came over and started patting him on the back.
“You worked hard. Just for today, I’ll do this for you.”
“Oh, no, no, it’s fine. I’m good now.”
“No need to refuse.”
“I said I’m fi—ack—!”
With plenty of emotion behind each strike, the sound of heavy thumps echoed.
It was less of a pat and more of a punch.
The principal’s words started cutting off mid-sentence.
“Anyway, everyone… great job. It’s been—ugh….so long since we’ve had… a victory this decisive.”
The Corpse Dragon’s forces had been nearly halved.
Two of the witches had been destroyed, and the last one was still recovering.
One day, new witches will be born, but the resources required for that will be astronomical.
The Blood Cult also lost several elders, so their losses must be severe.
Either way, neither side will be showing up near the Dungeon Island anytime soon.
Which means we’ve bought ourselves a good amount of time.
Before I knew it, the vice principal had moved on to the next phase and was now applying joint locks under the guise of a massage.
Twisting all over, the principal looked at me and asked,
“You played a big part in this, so we’re thinking of giving you some kind of reward. Let us know if there’s anything you want.”
“I’d like to receive part of it as drop items.”
The Witch of Exhaustion likely dropped quite a bit when she was destroyed.
The staff should be retrieving them by now.
But the principal’s response was somewhat doubtful.
“That might be difficult. Most of it are probably restricted items. No way I can just pull those out at will. Even if I could, how am I supposed to hand them over to a student?”
“I understand. Then I’ll think it over a bit more and get back to you.”
“Yeah, sure. Do that.”
The best reward I can ask for from the academic side is authority.
Unless it’s something extremely rare, I can always get items through other means.
Besides, it’s not urgent right now, so it’s better to hold off.
For example, I can sneak down to the lower levels if needed, and there’s still time before I need to worry about Dang Gyu-young’s post-graduation arrangements.
The principal turned his gaze to the Sword Queen without saying a word.
“……”
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“The kid went through a lot. You should at least give him something.”
“I went through a lot too!”
“Well, for us, it’s basically part of the job. But he’s still a first-year, and he risked his life to help.”
The Sword Queen’s sharp tone softened a bit.
“That’s… true.”
“And honestly, without that weird crow magic or whatever it was, we would’ve lost the witch.”
“……”
The Sword Queen couldn’t argue.
Even though the power gap was overwhelming, the one who played a decisive role in restraining the Witch of Exhaustion had been [Caw?].
Still, it was clear she didn’t like the idea, because her face twisted in frustration as she turned to ask me,
“What. Do you. Want.”
“You know that A+ rank item I was supposed to get from our bet?”
“Mhmm, what about it?”
“I’d appreciate it if you could add a little something extra to it.”
Basically, I wanted to combine them and take it as an S-rank item.
Realizing what I meant, the Sword Queen jumped to her feet.
And then unleashed a colorful barrage of curses.
“You thieving little bastard! Scammer! Con man Kim Ho! Swindler Kim Ho! Shameless Kim Ho!”
“Shameless Kim Ho? That’s a bit much, don’t you think?”
“If you’re not Shameless Kim Ho, how could you even think of making such a brazen, shameless request?!”
“Of course, I have a conscience too. You said you wanted a secret scroll, right? If I throw that in, wouldn’t that make it fair? We’re talking about two A+ rank items here.”
“Not a chance!”
The principal, who had been quietly observing, carefully joined the conversation.
“From my perspective, that seems more or less fair.”
“Two A+ rank items?”
“And you should also include compensation for this incident. I’m planning to offer that much myself.”
The principal casually made promises for the future.
Unaware that one day, those very words would come back to choke him…
But that’s a problem for later. Right now, the Sword Queen had to pay the price.
Her body trembled in frustration before she finally spoke.
“S-rank… what kind.”
“Do you happen to have an elixir?”
“I… do… have… one…”
“I’d be grateful if you could give it to me.”
Even if I didn’t know about other classes, I figured an S-rank warrior would’ve stashed away at least one or two elixirs.
The Sword Queen, on the verge of tears, opened her inventory with trembling hands.
She pulled out something wrapped in elegant hanji paper.
A pure, fragrant scent filled the hall.
I carefully peeled back the hanji and looked inside….there lay a thick ginseng root shaped like a human figure.
[Ten-Thousand-Year Human-Shaped Wild Ginseng (S)]
If I used it well, I might even be able to aim for an A-rank [Core].
I gave the Sword Queen a deep bow, filled with sincerity.
“Thank you once again. I’ll put it to good use.”
“…You horrible bastard. Bad bastard. Terrible bastard.”
Of course, all I got in return were harsh words.