I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 267

267

Seonghyun deliberately prolonged the battle, contemplating a breakthrough through creation.

All his focus was channeled into this fight, and he might have misjudged the Master’s movements. But even if Seonghyun and the Master faced the same conditions, their perspectives on their opponent differed.

Moreover, without the healing ability gained through creation, the battle became far more passive compared to the Master’s earlier aggressive movements.

This wasn’t due to the Master’s weakness.

Nor was it because the Master’s level was insufficient.

The Master, who had initially held the upper hand, quickly lost the initiative.

The attacks that had precisely targeted vital points were now mere considerations.

‘I need to find another breakthrough.’

Had he ever faced such a challenging opponent before?

Seonghyun had, in fact, encountered enemies with the ability to inflict similar pain to what he had used earlier, on several occasions.

Of course, those were abilities they inherently possessed, not created.

The key difference was that they didn’t experience the same pain as Seonghyun did.

Because of that single difference, the Master couldn’t effectively counter this pain.

Originally, the intensity of this pain could be converted into an offensive ability, but now that Seonghyun shared the burden, all the Master could do was neutralize each other’s pain.

‘Aim for the timing.’

If that was the case, there was only one course of action.

Since the Master had just neutralized Seonghyun’s pain, Seonghyun would create another ability.

At that moment, the Master would also copy Seonghyun’s new ability to continue the battle.

And the instant Seonghyun created an ability that inflicted great pain on both of them, he would simply create another ability to neutralize the pain again.

The Master aimed to exploit Seonghyun’s weakness.

But even that proved difficult, as his movements had already been anticipated.

The battle wouldn’t necessarily be disadvantageous for the Master if it dragged on, but it wouldn’t be advantageous either.

‘I have no choice but to sacrifice flesh to gain bone’ [idiom meaning to make a small sacrifice for a larger gain].

Seonghyun was blocking the Master’s attacks with minimal movement.

To provoke a weakness in Seonghyun, he had no choice but to expose his own.

“I admit it. You are strong.”

“Do you have the right to admit that?”

“That arrogance will be your downfall!”

The Master reacted as if provoked by Seonghyun’s words.

The ensuing attack was the fastest and most powerful, as if unleashing all his strength.

However, that also meant a vulnerability was exposed.

‘Bite.’

If he could just seize this bait, this frustrating situation would end.

Seonghyun reacted to the Master’s barely perceptible weakness.

It was such a small and fleeting gap that it was difficult to believe it was deliberately created.

That’s why Seonghyun didn’t hesitate.

It was about time he fell for the provocation.

‘Don’t use the sword clumsily.’

The foundation of all combat began with empty hands.

Rather than using a sword that he couldn’t even wield properly in the current situation, he used his fist, which he was most comfortable with.

Seonghyun allowed only a slight graze from the Master’s attack aimed at his neck.

After allowing only an attack that slightly tore the skin on the side of his neck, he immediately followed up with a counter.

If this single attack succeeded, he would gain a significant advantage in the battle with the opening that would follow.

The moment Seonghyun’s fist was about to strike the Master’s side, the Master smiled and said, using creation.

“How does it feel to die by your own ability?”

The ability the Master copied was Seonghyun’s Authority.

If Seonghyun had used it, there would have been as many swords as the number of believers, but the Master had no believers, so there was only one black sword.

However, in the current situation, the number of swords was irrelevant.

It was the most direct and potent attack among Seonghyun’s abilities.

That alone made it valuable.

The sword of light appeared in the air.

This time, it belonged to the Master, not Seonghyun.

“Why? Is there a problem?”

But for some reason, the sword the Master created wasn’t moving in the air.

As if there was a significant issue.

“Th, this…”

The Master hurriedly tried to use the creation ability again.

The reason was the overwhelming pain he felt.

“Ugh!! This crazy bastard…!”

“I hear that often.”

Seonghyun began to unleash a barrage of attacks before the Master could use the creation ability again.

The Master, unable to properly control his body due to the pain, had no choice but to endure all those attacks.

“Consider yourself lucky.”

This was truly sincere.

If it had been Seonghyun’s physical abilities, his body would have exploded without being able to withstand even a few attacks.

The Master, having endured several attacks, quickly distanced himself from Seonghyun, managing to neutralize the pain with creation.

“Keuk…”

He couldn’t see any way out.

He had never imagined this.

That he would continue to feel that pain.

Even now, as Seonghyun approached, it meant he was still feeling the pain.

‘…He’s really a crazy bastard.’

It was impossible to imagine that the current gait and emotionless expression belonged to someone experiencing the pain of imminent death.

“Hey.”

“Hey?”

“How long are you going to keep this up? It’s starting to get annoying.”

The deeply furrowed brow showed genuine annoyance.

Why was he bringing this up in the middle of the battle?

“I can’t help but be annoyed because you changed me into such a weak body.”

“W, weak body?”

The Master of the Door was weaker compared to other Masters of the Door, but not to the point of hearing such things.

He was only weaker than the Master of the 2nd level Door, but stronger than the Masters of the 3rd to 5th level Doors.

“Even if you say that, you can’t win anyway. There will be a limit to how much you can endure that pain.”

“So?”

“I’m just enduring it. After all, I don’t feel the pain you’re feeling now.”

At those words, Seonghyun smiled and approached the Master even more.

“Okay. Then do that.”

The smile he wore now was like the kind of smile someone would have when they found a sandbag to relieve stress, and the Master was momentarily taken aback, but it was all just a bluff anyway.

‘If I endure, I win.’

Even if he seemed fine, he was just pretending to be okay.

He was definitely feeling the pain.

The second exchange followed.

As expected, Seonghyun held the initiative.

“Keuk!”

The Master continued to endure, even while allowing Seonghyun’s attacks to land several times.

Really, continuously.

“It’s fun to hit you.”

“Heo… Heok…”

But Seonghyun’s attacks were no different from the beginning.

As if he didn’t feel any pain.

‘…As if he doesn’t feel pain?’

A sense of foreboding suddenly flashed through his mind, and the Master removed the ability that had been neutralizing the pain.

“Ha, haha. Hahaha!!”

But this time, he didn’t feel any pain at all.

Except for the places where Seonghyun’s attacks had landed a little while ago.

Of course, this pain was not comparable to the pain of imminent death that Seonghyun had created.

That meant that Seonghyun had removed the ability to feel pain at some point.

“Are you, are you playing with me?”

“What? You just realized that?”

Seonghyun began to laugh as if he was really having fun.

He had already released the ability the second time the Master felt pain.

Seonghyun’s battle was quite different from the battles the Master had fought so far.

A demeanor as if he was toying with his opponent, and even results that matched that demeanor.

There was no greater humiliation than this.

‘I didn’t want to use this…’

The method Seonghyun showed was virtually impossible to overcome.

If he had a body that didn’t feel pain itself, the Master wouldn’t have felt it either, since they had already made their conditions the same.

Moreover, the magnitude of the pain was not a fixed magnitude of pain.

Humans might die from pain once they reach a certain level, but this varied from race to race.

What Seonghyun had created was the pain of imminent death for each other, and there was clearly an absolute difference between the pain Seonghyun felt and the pain the Master felt.

“…Okay. I guess I have to end this now.”

The Master bit his finger.

And then, with the blood that burst out, he made a cross shape on his heart.

“Know it as an honor.”

“I hear that a lot too. But the result will be the same.”

The Master’s magic began to surge at that moment.

The size itself wasn’t that great, but the sophistication was beyond imagination.

Those magic powers permeated the blood drawn on the Master’s heart.

“You’re the third to see this.”

“What, don’t tell me the other two died or something like that?”

“Half right and half wrong.”

The Master’s expression was relaxed and comfortable.

‘I don’t know what it is, but there’s no way there won’t be side effects.’

That meant he just had to endure it, but that wasn’t easy.

Now that he couldn’t use healing, the only breakthrough was creation.

“You know it too. Creation comes with conditions.”

The Master reached out to the sky as soon as he finished speaking.

Then, black clouds began to gather in the sky where nothing existed.

“But, I can use creation without any conditions.”

Of course, impossible abilities like instantly killing the opponent were impossible, but it was possible without the condition that it had to act equally on each other.

Was this the feeling of facing a huge disaster that humanity cannot confront?

The sight unfolding before Seonghyun’s eyes was like a scene where God was punishing humanity.

“This… might be a little difficult.”

It seemed like he wasn’t just using one at a time.

Now that the restrictions that it had to be equal and that only one could be used were gone, Seonghyun felt that the Master of the 1st level Door was exuding an aura like that of the owner of a dimension.

What could he do with just one?

With only one creation ability that had to be equal?

“Die.”

The black clouds began to part, just as the Master’s disaster-like attack was about to continue.

A change that seemed to welcome it as if it had been waiting, rather than forcibly creating a gap.

The Master, who was about to unleash attacks on Seonghyun, was also surprised by the change in the sky and withdrew all the following attacks.

“Wh, why…”

Judging from the Master’s reaction, he seemed to know why this change had occurred.

After confirming that the sky had opened, the Master erased all the bloodstains he had drawn on his heart.

Then, as if he didn’t care that Seonghyun was here, he was only staring at the sky.

“What the hell is it…”

The sky was slowly opening, and soon something emitting light began to appear from the sky.

And at the same time, a voice that seemed to shake the ground was heard from all directions.

“It is excessive.”

At those words, the Master of the Door began to prostrate himself on the floor.

“I’m sorry.”

Who could be a being that the Master of the 1st level Door would prostrate himself to?

No matter how much he thought about it, it seemed like there was no one but the owner of the dimension.