I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 117

117

“Where is he?”

The man’s chilling voice made even his own subordinates flinch as they awaited the report.

“Same as always. It seems he’s created a new guild this time.”

“A guild, huh… Is he planning to gather all the strong ones?”

“It doesn’t seem that way. Strangely, he’s only taking in the lowest-ranked hunters into the guild.”

“Only the lowest-ranked hunters…?”

After pondering what his intentions might be, the conclusion came rather easily.

“He intends to manipulate them. He’s more ambitious than I thought. And he has the ability to do so.”

Of course, that didn’t change the outcome.

Having received direct orders from the American Association President, he had to produce results no matter what.

“But wouldn’t that be useless in front of you, Chief?”

The man was a renowned assassin in America.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t reached the ranks of the top-tier hunters, but assassination was quite distant from such showy rankings.

After reviewing the publicly available videos, it was determined that Seonghyun possessed just enough ability to protect himself.

Of course, that was based on the standards of monsters.

“He’s been frequently going on subjugations lately. With the authority of a top-tier hunter, he’s been single-handedly subjugating 3-star Gates. The rate of generation can’t keep up with the rate of clearing, so there’s been less activity than before, though.”

The man knew how quickly Seonghyun cleared 3-star Gates, but that didn’t matter at all.

The most ideal assassination was one that was carried out so secretly that the target didn’t even know they were dying.

The man was confident that there were only a handful of people who surpassed him in that regard.

“Which 3-star Gate is closest to Kim Seonghyun’s current location?”

At the man’s question, the subordinate took out a device that could identify the location of Gates and checked.

“A Gate has been generated about 20 minutes away from Kim Seonghyun, and about 5 minutes away from us.”

“Move out immediately.”

He needed to grasp the surrounding terrain a bit, and if any suspicious individuals were seen, they had to be dealt with quickly to avoid getting the Association involved.

“What a shame.”

He was being sincere.

He couldn’t have been more regretful.

If it weren’t for the order, he wouldn’t have killed him.

“We need to let everyone know what kind of ending you meet when you’re greedy.”

On the instructions of the American Association President, he had been recommended for naturalization [the process of becoming a citizen of a country].

The first time was one thing, but the second time was beyond acceptable.

It was a treatment that far exceeded the limits of what a hunter could receive.

Nevertheless, Seonghyun refused, and now there was no choice left.

“Ah, and what was that equipment he received from the Academy again?”

“According to the investigation, it blocks a surprise attack that Kim Seonghyun can’t react to once.”

“It’s quite troublesome equipment, but it won’t be a problem.”

He had received and successfully completed even more difficult missions than this.

“The problem is that it has to be dealt with in one go.”

There were countless cases when it came to assassination.

Weaklings could be easily dealt with, but things were a little different with high-level opponents.

There were many cases where a surprise attack would end with just an injury, not a fatal blow.

Seonghyun was an individual with healing abilities, so if it ended with an injury, he would immediately heal and resist.

“This time, you guys will also be involved in the mission, so follow my movements.”

The man rarely moved alone unless the target was not difficult.

And the man acknowledged Seonghyun as a difficult target.

There was no enemy more terrifying than complacency.

The man and his subordinates immediately headed to the Gate where Seonghyun would move.

Being 5 minutes away, they had more time than Seonghyun, and they identified anyone who would interfere with the plan while surveying the surroundings.

“There are three Association personnel.”

“What about Kim Seonghyun?”

“He’s starting to move now.”

“When Kim Seonghyun arrives and enters the Gate, quickly deal with the Association personnel and wait for him to come out.”

“Yes!”

The moment when hunters were most off guard.

That was the moment when they cleared the Gate and came out of it.

That fleeting moment when they escaped from the monsters, the only beings that threatened their lives.

There was no more certain opportunity than that.

“The barrier?”

“It’s ready.”

“Good. Stand by.”

All that was left was to wait for the prey to enter the trap.

“…He’s coming.”

And before long, Seonghyun’s figure began to appear.

——————————————–

“Let’s just clear up to here.”

Clearing too many 3-star Gates was not a good thing.

Now that he had reached the ranks of the top-tier hunters, these low-level Gates could be left to others.

“Ah, you’ve arrived!”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

After lightly greeting the Association hunters guarding the front of the Gate, Seonghyun immediately moved inside.

The subjugation proceeded in the same pattern.

Using his Authority as soon as he entered the Gate.

Since there was no one watching or monitoring, he could use his abilities without any restrictions or worries, at least in this place.

“What should I eat for dinner today…”

While he was having such trivial thoughts, the monsters were all dealt with, and as Seonghyun turned to leave the Gate, he smiled at the mutation he had encountered again after a long time.

“Purple mutation.”

Just like back then.

Seonghyun, at the Gate that had mutated to purple, turned his body back to the center of the Gate.

Meanwhile, everything was being checked outside the Gate as well.

“Purple mutation?”

“T, then what should we do…”

“Don’t worry. Have you forgotten who went in?”

“Ah… that’s right.”

It was Kim Seonghyun, not someone else.

The top-tier hunter of Korea and the possessor of healing abilities.

“Let’s just report it for now.”

If it were someone else or a party, the Association would have dispatched immediately, but the reality that a top-tier hunter had entered a 3-star Gate did not cause any concern.

“More importantly, how many minutes will Hunter Kim Seonghyun clear it this time? Dinner bet?”

“Good! But wouldn’t it take at least 10 minutes?”

“You don’t know anything. 5 minutes is enough…”

As they were giving their opinions, they suddenly saw things that shouldn’t be seen.

“R, red…?”

Blood began to spurt from the neck of the colleague who had confidently said it would take 10 minutes until just now.

Before they even realized that the red color was blood, the other two hunters experienced the same sight and collapsed on the spot.

“Clean it up.”

“Yes.”

In an instant, the bodies of the three men, as well as the bloodstains, disappeared, and the man gestured to his subordinates.

Then, the subordinates also began to wait in the prepared location.

“Come out quickly.”

——————————————–

“Tsk.”

Seonghyun clicked his tongue as if he was quite dissatisfied.

When facing the monsters of the same Gate as before, he was at least planning and even using the ability to identify vital points, but not now.

“The only things that have changed from then are a slight increase in physical ability and the acquisition of Authority.”

The monster that appeared in this Gate was a monster that continuously inflicted status ailments [conditions that negatively affect a character’s abilities or health].

A monster that only used status ailments that were fatal to combat, such as darkness, poisoning, exhaustion, etc.

Since he was taking all the magic power of the 3-star Gate alone, he was using it like crazy without any restrictions on the number and frequency.

However, it was completely useless in front of Seonghyun’s Purification.

Other than being annoyed by constantly using Purification, it was too weak.

Just in case, he tried fighting with a sword without using Authority, but the monster couldn’t avoid the first attack, or even react, and its arm was cut off.

Seonghyun, who had been briefly excited by the discovery of the purple Gate, frowned at the appearance of the monster, which was too weak, and cut off the monster’s neck as it was.

“Well, if it were a normal hunter, it would have been fatal.”

Seonghyun, who had taken out a crystal from near the monster’s heart, suddenly felt a sensation as if the crystals were resonating with each other.

“…What is it?”

The purple crystal he had obtained before.

And now that he had obtained a crystal of the same color.

It was quite a unique crystal, so he kept carrying it around, and it seemed to be useful in its own way.

When he took out the crystal from his pocket and held the two together, the resonance began to intensify.

“W, what?”

The resonating crystals instantly became one.

Other than being slightly larger, nothing had changed.

As if it wasn’t enough with this.

As if telling him to bring more of the same crystals.

In the first place, Gates that mutated to purple had never appeared before the regression, so there was no way he could have known.

“Gates that mutate to purple don’t seem to have a low frequency…”

He found a new question and also found a solution to it.

Basically, when a Gate mutated, there were hunters dispatched from the Association.

And the purple Gate was soon a mutated Gate.

What if Seonghyun could move instead of those hunters?

Since basic mutations could already be cleared sufficiently by other ordinary hunters, it seemed that he only needed to directly deal with the purple Gates.

That way, he wouldn’t have to subjugate too many 3-star Gates, and it was also an opportunity to save hunters in crisis and increase the number of people who worship him.

“I should contact the Association when I leave the Gate.”

With the thought that he could kill two birds with one stone, Seonghyun smiled contentedly and left the Gate that was tinged with purple.

The moment he took a step out of the Gate.

The moment when his vision changed and the things he saw changed, Seonghyun felt a slight sense of incongruity.

The fact that the people who should have been there were not there.

The hunters from the Association had left their posts and disappeared somewhere.

‘They should have confirmed that it mutated to purple, but they left their posts?’

That could never be.

They were the ones who had the task of reporting the situation to the hunters who were dispatched while keeping their positions, reporting was basic.

Then something must have happened.

And as if to tell him what that something was, he felt something flying from behind Seonghyun.

It was a little late to use Authority, Seonghyun deflected something flying with the sword he was holding, which was stained with monster blood.

“…Smoke bomb?”

The moment he deflected it with his sword, his vision blurred.

And the moment he inhaled the smoke, a pain that seemed to pierce his lungs began to surge.

At the same time, he felt a presence from behind.

Seonghyun swung the sword that had deflected the smoke bomb at the target that appeared behind him, and soon someone rushed in from the side with the sound of metal clashing against metal.

“Die!”

The coordination was quite clean.

The fact that all of this process was carried out without any delay was clearly not something they had done once or twice.

But there was one fact they didn’t know.

That Seonghyun had used his ability during that time without even a moment’s gap.

The black sword that Seonghyun had created was already appearing in the air in the meantime as they rushed in from the side.

“Assassination, huh. Who sent them?”

The smile on his lips was telling the result of this assassination plan instead.