I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 149

149

The news that Seonghyun had scheduled a Rank 2 Gate subjugation spread not only to the American Association but also to other top-tier Hunter guilds, such as Padron’s Guild and Lich’s Guild.

“He’s subjugating a Rank 2 Gate alone?”

Generally, any top-tier Hunter could clear a Rank 2 Gate solo without much difficulty.

However, the Seonghyun that Lich knew wasn’t that strong of a Hunter.

The amount of magical power he sensed wasn’t significant, and the sword-shaped mass of magical power he had seen in the video was likely all he had.

He probably poured all his magical power into that sword back then.

“Other guilds probably know already, right?”

“Yes, it’s registered in the system, and since he’s the only healing ability user, they’re sure to know.”

Then what should he do?

One thing Seonghyun didn’t know was that even the same Rank 2 Gate could have subtle differences depending on the country.

America, possessing the only Rank 1 Gate, had a considerably high basic magical power sensitivity.

“Hunter Kim Seonghyun might have a hard time alone.”

Lich already had the data from when Seonghyun set a new record for subjugating a Rank 2 Gate in Korea.

The Rank 2 Gate subjugation was carried out by Seonghyun’s guild members without any mercenaries.

‘He probably knew the monsters inside that Rank 2 Gate.’

He likely had prior knowledge of what monsters would appear and what kind of battles would take place, and he probably devised strategies accordingly.

“Um, Guild Leader.”

The secretary, who had been listening to something through the earpiece, had a flustered expression.

“Yes?”

“Padron… is coming to the Rank 2 Gate himself.”

“What? Padron himself?”

“Yes, Padron Guild Leader has just registered to participate in the Rank 2 Gate subjugation.”

“Haa…”

He was a faster mover than he thought.

Originally, one couldn’t interfere with the subjugation of a Gate that had already been claimed, but Padron was also a top-tier Hunter.

He was thinking of assigning a few people to help, but if Padron himself was stepping in, things were different.

In the first place, Padron didn’t have good feelings towards Seonghyun, and apart from emotional reasons, Seonghyun’s ability was so valuable that one country’s possession of it would be too small a vessel to contain it.

“I don’t know what his ulterior motive is…”

With Padron stepping in himself, other guilds that were interested in Seonghyun probably wouldn’t be able to send people.

There had been similar cases in the past.

A higher-ranking Hunter from a rival guild had raised objections to Padron, citing clauses.

The result was 12 weeks of recovery.

“I’ll have to go myself.”

“You’re going yourself? You still have schedules…”

“What schedules are left?”

“You have a meeting with the Association President and a conference with the guild leaders of the top 10 guilds regarding the recent Rank 1 Gate occurrence.”

“Postpone the meeting with the Association President.”

“You, you postponed it last time too…”

“It’s probably about Hunter Kim Seonghyun anyway. Postpone it.”

At Lich’s firm attitude, the secretary sighed and nodded.

“Then please do that. I’ll be back.”

“Yes… safe travels.”

——————————————–

“Why are you here…”

Seonghyun looked back and forth between Lich and Padron, who were staring at each other with incomprehensible eyes.

“You’re going to subjugate a Rank 2 Gate with that frail body? Don’t you know that if you die subjugating a Rank 2 Gate, America will be held responsible?”

Padron’s slightly awkward tone made it sound like he was just reciting something he had memorized.

“Hmm, if you made your tone more like you, it would be a little more bearable.”

“Wh-what?”

“You’re not being nearly ferocious enough.”

“What nonsense…”

“St-stop it! Let’s just go into the Gate quickly,” Lich interjected, hoping to defuse the situation.

Thanks to Lich’s intervention, the two’s argument fortunately didn’t deepen.

“So, why did you come, Lich?”

“I had to come since Padron came.”

“Li-Lich! What do you mean by that?”

Padron looked at Lich with a genuinely wronged expression.

“Ha, I came because I don’t know what kind of accident you’ll cause, Padron.”

“If that damn oriental just kept his mouth shut, nothing would happen! Why is it my fault?”

“There you go again! Whose mouth is the problem, I wonder?”

“Ah, no, it’s just my personality…”

“What if you embarrass yourself like you did before?”

At Lich’s words, Padron flinched for a moment.

The memories of the past flashed through his mind.

When he first encountered Lich, her eerie and ominous magical power, combined with her small stature, made her an easy target to ignore.

‘Hey, kid, you’re the one who handles those dead cripples, right?’

His first words still vividly came to mind.

But the answer to his question was completely unexpected.

The girl who should have been angry, or cowered, or even slightly resisted.

That girl gave him a smile he could never forget and asked back.

‘Why? Do you want to join my legion?’

The eerie and ominous feeling of magical power was nothing.

As that magical power surged, dozens of unpleasant hands appeared and began to wrap around his body.

That feeling and sensation were still vivid, but in fact, it was an illusion.

The illusion was very simple.

Success or failure depended on the amount of magical power one possessed, a simple structure.

Being caught in the illusion meant that the woman in front of him had more magical power than he did.

Remembering that moment, Padron shook his head to clear his thoughts.

“Al-alright. Let’s just go in.”

Knowing very well that further conversation would only be to his detriment, Padron entered the Gate first.

“Shall we go in too?”

“Yes, well. Let’s go.”

Seonghyun, feeling strange as if he was intruding on their subjugation, let out a small chuckle and entered the Gate.

“Hey, Padron.”

“…Hey? You little…”

“You said it earlier, right?”

At Seonghyun’s question, Padron just blinked and stared at him.

“That I shouldn’t get hurt or die while subjugating the Rank 2 Gate… and that it would be a problem if I took all the cores.”

“What nonsense are you trying to say now…”

Seonghyun, who had entered the Gate, sat down on the floor near the entrance and said.

“With my current condition, I feel like I’ll just die while subjugating the Rank 2 Gate…”

“…?”

“Pfft…”

Lich’s voice, trying hard to hold back laughter, could be heard, but Padron still didn’t seem to grasp the situation.

“Didn’t you hear me?”

“This damn oriental has been acting up since earlier…”

Padron, who had been frowning deeply, suddenly stopped moving.

He seemed to have finally understood what Seonghyun meant.

“Yo-you don’t mean…”

“Don’t mean? What? I’m just saying that my condition is so bad that I don’t think I can beat even one monster in the Rank 2 Gate.”

“…”

“So, will you catch some monsters for me?”

“…”

“If possible, quickly. Oh, of course, you can take all the cores that come out after killing the monsters. I can at least do that much for you.”

As soon as Seonghyun finished speaking, Padron’s magical power began to heat up his entire body.

‘Ha…’

A deep sigh escaped from within.

How long had it been since he had been this angry?

It was probably the first time in his life.

“Understood?”

“…You, after clearing the Gate…”

“Then please take care of me from now on, Padron.”

“Ah, from now on?”

Padron’s reason snapped as he heard that he would be using him as an assistant for about a week, not just this time.

“Yeah, I was stupid.”

Padron’s magical power, which had been burning like it would set his whole body on fire, began to gather in one place.

“I should have just caught and killed that bug on the day he ran away from the Rank 1 Gate.”

Padron, who had already lost his reason in his eyes, raised the magical power gathered in his fist as it was.

Very slowly.

“Damn oriental. Die.”

The fist began to fall at a speed similar to the speed at which it was raised.

But this time, even Lich couldn’t easily step in.

“Pa-Padron!”

This kind of close-range situation had quite a few restrictions for Lich.

Of course, it wouldn’t matter normally, but it was a different story when it came to a top-tier Hunter like Padron.

“Hmph!”

With a short shout, Padron’s fist fell.

There was no name for the ability that might appear in games or novels, or anything like that.

He simply gathered his magical power into one point, his fist, and just struck down with a short shout.

“Kyaaak!”

Before the fist even touched the ground, the ground closest to the fist instantly turned to dust and began to scatter.

And at the same time as the shaking that was like an earthquake began, the ground began to turn over as if a volcano was erupting.

If he had done the same attack outside, many people would have mistaken it for a natural disaster.

The ground didn’t just turn over once.

Gradually, the range began to widen, and the ground was sharply rising and extending outwards.

“Ha.”

Padron snorted briefly and then stood up.

“Crazy bastard.”

Padron looked at Seonghyun, who was looking up at him without batting an eye.

Except for the exact spot where Seonghyun was sitting, everything else was turned upside down as if the world had changed, but the small Hunter in front of him was looking up at him with eyes that seemed to know everything.

“Hey, if you had gotten hit by that, you would have died instantly. You know that? Your head would have exploded.”

“But it didn’t explode, did it?”

“Wow… this guy is completely insane.”

Padron’s expression as he said that was closer to a smile than anger.

“Even the great Lich doesn’t take my fist lightly at this distance. Ha, this is so frustratingly good. Annoying.”

“So, will you do the subjugation from now on?”

“Shut up. I’ll do it myself.”

Padron finished speaking and left the Gate as it was.

“Huu… that’s a relief. Let’s go out too.”

“…Yes.”

Seonghyun smiled lightly as he came out of the Gate.

The Rank 2 Gate had just ended with one blow from Padron.

The time it took, if they hadn’t talked, probably wouldn’t have been even a minute.

“He just didn’t subjugate the Rank 2 Gate.”

“Yes, well. Isn’t that the case in Korea too? Unless the number of new Gates increases significantly, you have to leave the Gates behind to keep getting a supply of cores.”

He had been confident that he hadn’t been arrogant or careless, but it seemed like there was still a little bit left.

Of course, it wasn’t impossible for Seonghyun either.

Since his magical power was infinite, he could just fly his sword a few times as soon as he entered the Gate and it would be over.

Was he just underestimating the Hunters who were at the top of the world?

“Padron has already seen Hunter Kim’s video. He certainly has tremendous abilities, but he judges that Hunter’s main ability is healing and that he only has enough power to protect himself. Both I and Padron do.”

“Well, that’s true.”

That wasn’t wrong.

Seonghyun currently had enough power to protect himself.

However, there was one difference.

There was quite a big gap in the size of the external threats they were thinking of.

‘There’s no need to tell them.’

Seonghyun’s goal was only the other Rank 2 Gate inside the Rank 2 Gate.

Nothing more, nothing less.

To prevent even the slightest bit of trouble from occurring in achieving this goal, this current state was very appropriate.

‘I just need to be careful about one thing.’

That is, a Gate connecting to the owners of the Rank 4 and Rank 3 Gates being created.

He had to find that Gate before subjugating the remaining nine Rank 2 Gates.