I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 280

“What brings you here?”

The association employee eyed the man with unfocused eyes suspiciously.

However, they couldn’t simply turn away any complaints or reports, so they had no choice but to respond, however uncomfortably.

“Excuse me, sir. Is there something you’d like to say?”

“Confirmation…”

His eyes were unfocused, his speech slurred, and every gesture and expression lacked vitality, making it seem as if a doll were speaking.

‘Tch, I need to deal with this quickly and send him away.’

The man pulled out his phone from his pocket with trembling hands and showed it to them.

“?”

They took it, wondering what it was, and saw a scene rarely seen even in movies.

“Th-this is…”

Fourteen corpses were sprawled on the ground.

All of them had their heads cleanly severed and rolling around.

“Open gate…demonic beasts…”

“Are you saying demonic beasts have flooded out? From an open gate?”

“Subjugation…is…”

Unable to make sense of the disjointed conversation, the employee grabbed the man’s shoulders and shook him, asking again.

“Snap out of it! Have demonic beasts flooded out?”

If demonic beasts had flooded out, there would have been reports from nearby, so why hadn’t any reports come in?

That meant either there was no one left to report, or the demonic beasts had returned to the gate.

“Save…”

“…Excuse me?”

The man’s vitality suddenly returned.

The light in his eyes was consumed by fear, and his body, which had been as stiff as a doll, could do nothing but tremble, even with the return of life.

“To the hospital…”

They didn’t know what had happened, but the fact that he had come to the association first, even in this state, made the employee resolve to save the man at all costs.

However, as if belittling the employee’s determination, the man’s head exploded in an instant.

“Wh-what the…”

The association’s interior turned into a scene of carnage with blood splattering everywhere, and fortunately, the vice-chairman appeared before the commotion turned into chaos.

“What’s going on?”

“Vice-Chairman!”

The employee explained the entire situation to the vice-chairman.

What the man had shown, where it was.

And even that his head had suddenly exploded before their eyes.

“His head suddenly exploded…were there any strange signs?”

“Something…it felt like the corpses were moving. Just for a moment before his head exploded, he seemed to come to…”

“First, clean up this situation.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Originally, it wasn’t prone to flooding, and only the weakest demonic beasts appeared, so even lower-ranked hunters with good talent used it as a place to earn pocket money.

‘A flood occurred, but they went back in…’

Even comparing it to historical records, there had never been a case where demonic beasts that had flooded out from a gate returned inside.

‘Ominous.’

Just because it hadn’t flooded didn’t mean they could let their guard down.

The vice-chairman immediately summoned all the higher-ranked hunters nearby to the open gate and headed there himself.

They wondered if it was necessary to report to Seong-hyun, but the problems that would arise from not doing so were far greater than those from doing so, so they left a message.

Anyway, as far as the vice-chairman knew, Seong-hyun was currently in France.

“Everyone heard on the way, but the demonic beasts that flooded out from the gate have returned.”

“The demonic beasts went back in?”

“Hasn’t this never happened before?”

“So, we’re going to enter the gate to subjugate those demonic beasts.”

They couldn’t leave a ticking time bomb in the middle of the city.

They had already requested support from other top-ranked hunters.

It might seem a bit strange to request the support of top-ranked hunters to deal with a flood from a newly opened gate, but the vice-chairman wasn’t just requesting support based on a hunch.

It was those corpses in the photo.

It was just a photo, but the vice-chairman, being a hunter of his caliber, could see hidden things.

‘Something’s not right.’

The expressions on two of the heads among those lying on the ground.

Looking at their expressions alone, they looked like people having an everyday conversation.

Perhaps, even in the moment their heads were cut off and rolling on the ground, they didn’t properly recognize that they were dead.

“First, until the other top-ranked hunters arrive, secure the area around the gate to prevent further casualties.”

They weren’t foolish enough to go in first after requesting support.

The subjugation of the abnormally high-level 4-star gate was nearing completion, so the hunters were a bit more relaxed.

Fortunately, two of the three top-ranked hunters responded directly to the vice-chairman’s request for support, and soon, they arrived at the open gate with the hunters.

“It’s been a while, Vice-Chairman.”

“Thank you for your support.”

“It’s nothing. Demonic beasts that flooded and then returned, I was just curious.”

With these two, the vice-chairman, and dozens of higher-ranked hunters, they should be able to subjugate them sufficiently.

Moreover, the vice-chairman could also use Seong-hyun’s magic power, so they would be able to show strength beyond their prime.

“Please take care of the guild members you brought with you.”

“Yes, let’s go right away.”

“Let’s subjugate them quickly and return.”

Inside the open gate.

The proxy who had been waiting for Seong-hyun sensed that unexpected guests had arrived.

“…Oh, dear. A mistake.”

If they were going to do it, they should have done it properly.

So that those insects wouldn’t even dare to enter this place.

This mistake came about because they were trying to minimize the time they were away, but it didn’t matter.

They could just kill them all.

“Well, this is good since I was getting bored.”

It was a bit of a shame that these people, who would soon be used as high-class slaves, were going to die, but that was only if they listened well.

“You just focus on guarding this place.”

“Yes.”

After giving the order, the proxy didn’t take their eyes off one place.

The place where the uninvited guests had entered.

That place.

————————

“Something’s strange. Even though it’s an open gate, there aren’t any demonic beasts. Did they perhaps kill their own kind?”

Park Yeon-seok, the guild leader of the Asu Guild.

Even they, as a top-ranked hunter, couldn’t sense the things that should have been inside this gate.

“I know, right? Is there nothing to eat?”

Like Park Yeon-seok, Choi Gi-ju, the guild leader of the Jeonui Guild, also couldn’t feel anything.

“The 4-star gate where the big damage occurred this time was the same. Just don’t let your guard down…”

At that moment, a very small wave of magic power was felt directly in front of them.

It was clearly a faint and crude wave of magic power, but why did it feel so murderous?

Like a deadly poison on the tip of a very small needle, it was an ominous premonition.

‘Evade?’

It wasn’t an unavoidable attack.

But if they evaded, the other hunters behind them would be attacked, and they would never survive.

In the end, the only option was to block it.

“Oh ho. What an interesting human. To notice that.”

“Wh-what!!”

Clearly, the movement of magic power wasn’t felt anymore.

Then how on earth did they appear right in front of them?

Fortunately, the vice-chairman had started operating their magic power faster to block the attack they had felt just before, so they could use that magic power to create distance, but the two top-ranked hunters next to them couldn’t.

“Kuaaak!!”

“Keuheok!!”

The moment the top-ranked hunters recognized the proxy’s existence.

The arms of the two top-ranked hunters fell off.

Not just one, but both arms.

“This!”

They seemed to be standing still in that spot, and it was an attack that even the vice-chairman, who hadn’t even blinked, couldn’t follow with their eyes.

“Having a lot of numbers is always a disadvantage.”

The proxy showed an amused smile and disappeared again.

The vice-chairman immediately turned around without even thinking.

The other hunters who had been following them from behind.

“No…way…”

When the vice-chairman turned around and checked behind them.

All they could see was red.

How fortunate it would be if their eyes were just filled with blood.

Of course, all that red was just red blood.

The blood of all the hunters who had been following behind was covering the ground.

“This is why I hate humans. The insignificant ones spew out so much.”

“Kueuk…”

“This is…a big problem.”

If there was any good news, it was that the two top-ranked hunters had drunk elixirs while the proxy was dealing with the other hunters.

Of course, nothing had changed with just this.

It was just that they hadn’t died when they would have originally died.

That’s all that had changed.

The proxy also didn’t react much even after confirming that the two had quickly recovered.

They could just cut them off again.

This time, they would become chunks of meat spewing blood on this floor without even being able to drink it.

“Vice-Chairman. Buy some time first…Vice-Chairman?”

The vice-chairman in their sight was doing something they couldn’t understand at all.

———————-

Seong-hyun, who had subjugated the last 4-star gate remaining in France, had just come out of the gate.

“Thank you so much. How can I ever repay this debt…”

“It’s alright.”

France was one of the places that had been hit harder than others.

France, which had quickly realized that the 4-star gate was different from the existing ones, had the top-ranked hunter enter the gate first to minimize the damage to personnel.

The result was answered by Seong-hyun finishing the subjugation today.

France, which had lost a valuable top-ranked hunter, was pouring all its efforts into vigilance at every moment, fearing that the existence inside the gate that had devoured the top-ranked hunter might flood out at any time.

It was Seong-hyun who had solved this situation.

“I heard that the 4-star gate that exists here is the last one.”

“That’s right. This is the last one.”

“Hoo…It’s a pity for the sacrifice of Jang Der…but thanks to that, we were able to prevent even greater sacrifices.”

The French top-ranked hunter named Jang Der wasn’t just a hunter full of common arrogance.

He realized that the 4-star gate was different, and as soon as he heard that hunters were trapped inside and couldn’t return, he immediately stepped forward.

To save them.

Also, to prevent the continued flooding if he couldn’t save them.

“He was a great hunter.”

“…Der will also be happy. Because Hunter Kim Seong-hyun said so.”

The association president’s expression wasn’t good, of course, but it also contained the sadness of losing a longtime friend along with losing a top-ranked hunter.

Seong-hyun, who knew that feeling better than anyone else, didn’t use purification on purpose.

Because they were things that they had to have until they could mourn enough and shake them off on their own.

“It’s a small gift for acting as a person, not a hunter.”

Seong-hyun created dozens of elixirs on the table in front of them.

“E, elixirs?”

“I hope something like this doesn’t happen again.”

“…Thank you so much.”

“It’s alrigh…”

It was then.

A person who shouldn’t feel pain was feeling pain.

“I’m sorry. I have to go.”

“Yes? Ah, yes. Be careful…”

Seong-hyun disappeared without even receiving the association president’s greetings, and the association president just stared blankly at the spot where Seong-hyun had disappeared.