Yohan kicked the student whose head had been smashed into the ground out of the arena.
Then, after kicking off the ground several times, he leaped straight into the middle of the twenty-eight students standing there.
The students, who could not follow Yohan's movements with their eyes, merely blinked at him when he suddenly appeared before them.
"That idiot jumped into his own grave, so what are you doing?! Attack!"
Jung-han was the first to notice and come to his senses, then shouted at the other students.
"His own grave, huh.... You still don't know your position."
Yohan let out a dry laugh and murmured quietly.
One student approached, thrusting with a long spear.
Yohan spun around, avoided the spear, and struck his head with a dagger.
THUD—!
Thump.
The student who had charged in with the spear collapsed to the ground, foaming at the mouth from Yohan's attack.
WHIRR.
A student who could handle magic saw the fallen student and was startled, then deployed a Fireball.
A red magic circle formed from the student's extended hands, and a ball of flame was generated.
Sensing mana, Yohan charged at him.
Then he swiftly twisted the student's arm.
CRACK.
With the sound of the arm breaking, it bent in a direction it should not have been able to bend.
Because of Yohan's sudden attack, the student could not cancel the Fireball he had been deploying.
The continuously deployed Fireball was fired from the bent arm.
BOOM—!
The Fireball exploded directly in the caster's face.
The student's head bent backward once, and his face was scorched black.
He collapsed to his knees.
"Fuck, die!"
One student aimed for the back of Yohan's head.
He swung with an Ego Weapon shaped like a club, but it missed with nothing more than Yohan twisting his body.
THUD—!
And it struck the head of the student who had been hit in the face by the Fireball.
Perhaps because he had swung so widely, the upper body of the student holding the club pitched forward.
Yohan grabbed the head of that leaning upper body and struck him several times with his dagger.
"Stupid bastards! One charges in mindlessly, one deploys magic at close range, and one makes noise while attacking from behind?"
Yohan said that while continuing to strike without letting go of the student's hair.
"Idiots like you only come to your senses after your heads are cracked open!"
CRACK—!
At Yohan's merciless attacks, the students began to grow afraid.
CRACK—!
They were horrified by the repeated sounds and the blood bursting out.
CRACK—!
The students lost their will to fight and dropped their Ego Weapons, turning their bodies away.
"R-Run!"
"Save me!"
"That demonic bastard!"
Then, one by one, they showed their backs and tried to step down from the arena.
Seeing the students trying to leave the arena, Yohan leaped toward them.
"Who said you were allowed to run?"
"Hiiik!"
Several students, frightened before anything even happened, sank to the ground where they stood.
They looked at Instructor Seong-hyeon with pitiful eyes, but the instructor said nothing.
"In-Instructor.... Save...."
CRACK—!
The student, unable to finish speaking, foamed at the mouth and fainted from Yohan's dagger.
The reason the instructor, who was responsible for the sparring match, did not stop the gruesome sparring was simple.
First, according to the sparring agreement, the sparring would continue until combat incapacitation.
Second, they possessed mana crystals capable of treating injuries of this level.
Not only the instructors, but even Yohan knew that fact.
That was why he had inserted the combat incapacitation clause.
Whether the students resisted or surrendered, they simply collapsed helplessly as their heads were injured.
No one was left standing before Yohan.
"Now I finally feel relieved."
Yohan finished off the students except Jung-han and looked at him.
Before the overwhelming power, Jung-han stood trembling while clutching his Ego Weapon, a battle-axe.
Yohan dusted off his clothes and looked at Jung-han.
Then he slowly approached him while loosening his hands.
"Th-This makes no sense! How could you take down every student in the class...?!"
"Yeah, it makes sense."
Yohan rapidly approached him and slipped into his chest.
"Huh?"
Looking at Yohan, who was suddenly below him, Jung-han could only express doubt.
From that low stance, Yohan twisted his body and kicked Jung-han into the air.
"Urk!"
Then he continuously drew daggers from his coat and hurled them at Jung-han.
The daggers lodged in Jung-han's head.
THUD, THUD, THUD—!
Yohan leaped from the ground and caught up to Jung-han, who was floating in the air.
As he turned his body forward for the finishing blow and tried to drive his heel down....
CRASH—!
Instructor Seong-hyeon blocked it.
With one arm, he held Jung-han, and with the other, he blocked Yohan's foot.
"That will be enough. He has already fainted."
At Seong-hyeon's words, Yohan withdrew his foot and descended to the ground.
He slowly looked over the fallen students.
Not a single person was unharmed.
They were all merely groaning and trembling in their limbs.
‘They are stupid bastards, but there are still a few with some spirit.’
Yohan recalled how each of them had been, one by one, then looked at Seong-hyeon.
At that, Seong-hyeon set Jung-han down and approached Yohan while rubbing the forearm that had collided with him.
Then he raised Yohan's hand and shouted.
"The winner of the sparring match! Yohan!"
The sparring arena was filled not with cheers for the victor, but with the silence of those who had witnessed the merciless Yohan.
Leaving those people behind, Yohan left the sparring arena.
When the sparring ended, all the instructors were mobilized and began carrying away the fallen students.
"Everyone! Move the students to the infirmary quickly!"
While they were busily moving the students, Seong-hyeon continued rubbing his forearm.
‘I deployed an anti-magic-beast barrier just in case, but he broke through it.... With his bare body, at that.’
Then he looked at the exit of the sparring arena where Yohan had left and thought.
‘If I had not stopped him, Student Jung-han would have died.’
***
Meanwhile, Yohan, who was returning to class without a trace of exhaustion, sensed someone following behind him and stopped walking.
"Why are you following me?"
When Yohan turned around, Mi-yeong was standing there.
When Mi-yeong's eyes met Yohan's, she stood in place and began glaring at him.
"Yohan, spar with me."
"Why should I?"
"Because I am curious where your strength comes from."
"Oh, really?"
Yohan turned around and tried to return to his class again.
The condition for recruiting her was to make her recognize that he was strong.
However, he could not let her recognize him as merely half-heartedly strong. It had to be overwhelming power, just like in this sparring match.
As a genius of the Bakma Family who had lived her entire life as one of the strong, she needed to be taught what it meant to be weak.
But with his current body, not yet in his prime, he could not win overwhelmingly.
Because of that, Yohan chose to ignore her.
Mi-yeong began trotting after Yohan.
"Please spar with me."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Just because."
"Please spar with me."
"Do you not understand what people say? I'm tired."
"Please do it."
"No!"
"Do it!"
Yohan looked at Mi-yeong, who kept urging him, with a straight face.
Mi-yeong continued repeating her request for him to spar with her.
"I'm going in. Goodbye."
Leaving Mi-yeong behind, Yohan entered his class.
"I will keep coming until you accept the sparring match!"
Mi-yeong shouted toward Yohan as he entered the classroom.
***
At a building that called to mind a Joseon-era palace, Gyeom-ha stood in the center, watching leaves scatter in the wind.
Before long, his secretary approached.
"Well, what happened to Seo-yun after she entered Pluton?"
"She entered Class S with an overall rank of third."
"That foolish girl chose to enter a place where she cannot even take first! If she is third, who is above her?"
The secretary checked the information through his device.
"First place was taken by Yohan, and second by a girl named Mi-yeong of the Bakma Family."
When Gyeom-ha heard the secretary's words, he narrowed his brow and ground his teeth.
"Leaving aside that child Mi-yeong, the genius of the Bakma Family, what?"
"Yohan of the branch line took the top position."
At the secretary's firm words, Gyeom-ha's expression twisted even further.
"A branch line surpassed the direct line and entered Pluton as the top entrant!"
CRASH—!
Gyeom-ha struck the tree beside him violently.
At that, leaves fell with a rustle.
The secretary shrank back at the sight of Gyeom-ha's anger.
"I disliked him from the start. He put strange ideas into Seo-yun's head and made her enter Pluton, then stood proudly before the direct line!"
The secretary silently listened to Gyeom-ha as he flew into a rage.
"I cannot tolerate him disturbing the Family's order any longer. The Family Head will understand this as well."
"What should I do?"
When the secretary asked Gyeom-ha, Gyeom-ha smiled broadly.
"Pluton's instructor, Park Jong-pal. Call him."
"...Yes. Understood."
Before long, summoned by the secretary, Jong-pal appeared.
Jong-pal walked toward Gyeom-ha with a limp, using a cane.
"You called for me, Family Head?"
"I believe I told you not to call me that here."
"I-I apologize."
Gyeom-ha placed a hand near his mouth and spoke.
"How long has it been since you left the Hunter Association?"
"That is... why are you asking...?"
"Just answer what I ask."
"...Ten years."
"That is a long time."
Gyeom-ha sighed deeply and looked at Jong-pal.
Jong-pal was kneeling on one bad knee.
"Have you no desire to return to the Hunter Association?"
"Return.... If I had such an opportunity, I would want to do so no matter what!"
"Good. Then I shall give you that opportunity."
"Thank you for giving me this chance. If I can return to the Hunter Association, I, Park Jong-pal, will offer my life to you, Family Head!"
"Now, now, I told you not to call me that."
Even as he said that, Gyeom-ha liked the words "Family Head."
Gyeom-ha cleared his throat once, then spoke to Jong-pal.
"Recently, there is a child at Pluton who bothers me."
"A child who bothers you...."
"Do you know Yohan?"
"I have not seen him yet, but I heard he took the top position in the entrance exam."
"Yes. The exam where a mere branch line dared surpass the direct line. Personally, I would like to speak to Pluton directly, but that is a place all Twelve Families are involved in."
"What would you like done with that child?"
"Kill him. At the very least, cripple him so he can never live as a Hunter again."
"If that happens, my life as an instructor at Pluton will...."
"Do you want to live as an instructor forever?"
Jong-pal thought that if he let this opportunity slip, he would never be able to enter the Hunter Association again.
‘If I can enter the Hunter Association with the Hangeom Family as my backing... I will do anything!’
After finishing his thoughts, Jong-pal bowed his head toward Gyeom-ha.
"If you deal with that branch-line bastard, I will place you not in the Kimchang Family's region, but in the Hangeom Family's region. Of course, in your former position as branch director. However...."
"However...?"
"If you fail, your life ends there. Keep only that in mind."
A Hunter Association branch director's position was like the position of mayor in the old days.
Because Jong-pal had once held that position, he savored Gyeom-ha's proposal.
In any case, as an instructor, he had nowhere higher to climb.
He had no choice but to throw everything into this.
"I will carry out the command of the merciful Family Head."
"Good. I look forward to it."