Trash talk is a valid strategy.
Unless you’re fighting a soulless machine, every person has a weak point and secrets they’d rather keep hidden.
If you can exploit those vulnerabilities to create an opening, there’s no real reason not to use it.
The only reason it’s avoided is because the one spouting such words risks tarnishing their own honor in the process.
But would fanatics even care about such things?
The broken androids rolling in from somewhere relentlessly spat out keywords, combining strong personal information and inner worries they somehow knew.
“Seo Heeseok. Berserk. Kang Han’s mentor, family annihilation. Disappearance. Demian Kreuz, berserk, team annihilation, subsequent suicide, berserker, uncontrollable.”
Kang Han regarded the current situation as a form of trash talk.
Somewhere, evil god worshipers were undoubtedly hiding, launching unceasing mental attacks.
Otherwise, it would be hard to explain how these android robots kept spitting out deeply unsettling information.
No matter how many he destroyed, it was the same.
The grotesque androids approached as if targeting Kang Han alone, uttering words meant to amplify his anxieties.
It was enough to cause a sense of discomfort.
‘A spell that touches on the uncertain fears and worries wandering within me.’
Repeating that to himself, he simply continued smashing every robot that appeared and pressed forward.
The provocations of the evil god worshipers did nothing to break Kang Han but instead fueled his anger.
Since birth, he had suppressed his murderous urges, possessing an extraordinary mental fortitude cultivated through years of endurance.
It was hardly something that could be shattered by mere provocations.
Even so, he was startled at first.
The claim that Joo Yidam was infertile—though Kang Han knew it was just a manifestation of his buried worries—still left him uneasy.
The fact that the androids mentioned it meant he truly harbored such concerns.
After all this was over, he decided he would ask about it someday.
Not in a heavy or lighthearted manner, but perhaps in a comfortable setting like the café they frequented.
When the moment felt right, he thought he would ask if anything unfortunate had happened during the sparring session that day.
But first, he had to resolve the current crisis.
Kang Han approached the vicinity of the operator room.
There, he found a group of evil god worshipers larger than any he had encountered before.
They were locked in intense combat with the security forces protecting the operator room and the cadets.
“Phew.”
Having smashed through countless androids that had targeted his mind, Kang Han was already brimming with rage.
With a single breath, he entered berserk mode, letting out a monstrous roar as he charged forward.
The battlefield teetered on a precariously balanced seesaw, but the moment Kang Han, like a massive boulder, tipped the scale, the tide of the battle shifted dramatically.
“Why the sudden… gunfire…?”
Thud!
An evil god worshiper muttered in shock before collapsing to the ground.
This one was the last of the heretics who had tried to gang up on me after Ilayun, having tasted holy water, fled.
Reading expressions on the monstrous heads of these heretics was nearly impossible.
But after hunting them for so long, I had somehow reached the point where I could roughly gauge their emotions.
Still, I had no desire to understand despair on the face of an octopus.
The “Perfectionist” trait that guaranteed high skill accuracy felt annoyingly cumbersome at moments like this.
“There are no rules here. If you die, that’s the end.”
I holstered my gun again.
There was a reason I had always used multiple weapons interchangeably.
Build-up was crucial.
Having both a dagger and a gun at the same time was possible because the academy acknowledged my proficiency with multiple main weapons.
Though I was initially treated as a failure, it ultimately proved helpful.
Results were what mattered.
Now that this area was more or less under control, it was time to look for Ira Sol.
Ira Yoon, who had betrayed her family and turned villain long ago, had continued to obsess over her younger sister, Ira Sol, even after becoming a high-ranking officer.
If Ira Yoon were to head anywhere, it would undoubtedly be where Ira Sol was.
We had coordinated our plans in advance in preparation for a terrorist attack.
Ira Sol would likely be in the simulation room, specifically in the “Large-Scale Boss Raid” waiting area—a spacious location with many cadets.
It was far from the priority targets of the attack yet still strategically secure, making it one of the safest locations in case of an incident.
The path to the large-scale boss raid arena, slightly removed from the main stadium, was utter chaos.
Disturbances were breaking out everywhere, and the heretics, having amassed sufficient corpses, were threatening the security hunters and cadets with overwhelming power.
But I couldn’t afford to pay attention to all of it.
My top priority was capturing Ira Yoon.
If malevolence seeped into the situation any further, it would become a serious headache.
After a brief yet intense journey, I finally arrived at the boss raid waiting area, which was also under attack.
However, the situation here was significantly better than in other places.
For the terrorists, it was a difficult target to attack and not particularly rewarding.
“Ira Sol!”
Among the heavily armed cadets, I spotted the girl.
I headed straight toward her.
Ira Sol frowned upon seeing the heretics’ blood and debris on my clothes.
“Yidam, have you already been attacked?”
“I ran into your sister. Things got a bit complicated, and I lost her.”
As we began sharing updates, a strange sensation brushed against my back.
I wasn’t the only one who felt it—every cadet in the room simultaneously turned their heads in one direction.
“That’s…”
The simulation room was activating on its own.
The attack had clearly begun before the match, but somehow, the boss monster for the large-scale boss raid simulation appeared to be summoning itself.
To make matters worse, the academy had expanded the simulation field to encompass the entire arena to minimize innocent casualties.
This meant that the boss monster, which required the strength of dozens of hunters, could potentially break out of the arena and wreak havoc freely.
“This isn’t good.”
Everyone instinctively understood the gravity of the situation.
One quick-thinking cadet ran to the nearby briefing room to try and operate the equipment, but the system seemed completely unresponsive.
There was no choice but to prepare for a raid.
Whether it was a system malfunction or the heretics’ doing, the monster had to be dealt with.
The moment the boss was summoned, the options narrowed to just one.
The choice was clear, but it didn’t feel great.
I had initially planned to join Kang Han to bolster his efforts, but now I was stuck here.
“It’s a golem!”
The boss that had fully formed in the arena was a golem.
Its massive size dwarfed even large villas.
Its type wasn’t ideal—it required a significant number of mages capable of executing large-scale attacks to defeat.
In an environment where heretics could attack at any moment, maintaining the mages’ concentration would be extremely challenging.
The cadets quickly assessed the situation.
Despite the circumstances, these cadets—each selected for their abilities and achievements in their respective countries—proved their worth by forming a strategy.
“Move! Quickly!”
Those in positions less favorable for the boss raid formed a defensive perimeter around the arena to fend off the heretics’ intrusion.
Meanwhile, the mages tasked with firepower and those responsible for drawing the boss’s attention rushed to the center of the arena.
I was part of the latter group.
I left Ira Sol, who could assist with magic, in the rear and sprinted toward the center of the arena to deal with the imminent threat as swiftly as possible.
The golem, whose massive shape was clearly visible from a distance, roared upon spotting the intruders.
“Ooooooh!”
Its roar shook the earth with a low frequency so powerful it was almost imperceptible to human ears.
Someone called out to me then.
“Joo Yidam!”
I turned to see Jin Mugyeol and Wi Seoyeon.
They must have joined the boss raid waiting room as well.
“Why are you here?!”
“Things just worked out this way. What about the others?”
“Kwak Dohyeong and Kim Lara went to the shelter. Kim Jinsu’s at another arena.”
Jin Mugyeol, a frontliner who wielded a spear, had high mobility, making him particularly effective in chaotic battles like this.
Wi Seoyeon’s large-scale bombardment magic went without saying—it was exactly what we needed.
I felt somewhat relieved seeing familiar faces.
“After we take down the golem, head straight for the operator room. If possible, find Kang Han and join forces with him.”
“What about you, Joo Yidam?”
“First, let’s deal with the boss. We’ll coordinate afterward.”
There was no time to continue the conversation.
The golem’s massive fist, larger than a car, slammed into the ground with brutal force, creating a deafening boom and causing the earth to quake beneath us.
The ground cracked violently from the impact of its fist.
A single hit would mean instant retirement. It was time to focus.
“Jin Mugyeol, draw its aggro!”
“You don’t need to tell me!”
Jin Mugyeol moved like the wind, weaving through the golem’s movements with ease.
Meanwhile, the formation of mages began chanting spells, aiming at the golem.
Only about six of us, including Jin Mugyeol and me, were handling the boss’s aggro.
However, each of us was a top-tier combatant, so as long as there were no major disruptions, the raid should proceed smoothly.
As long as there were no major disruptions.
Ssshhhh.
“!?”
During my turn to follow up on Jin Mugyeol’s aggro, I felt an ominous sensation creeping up from my fingertips to my arm.
Damn.
Not now.
I quickly removed my half-gloves and checked “The Promised Ruin.”
The ring was pitch black.
Damn it.
It had already begun.
The “malice” was infiltrating my body, carving black tattoos into my skin.
The curse spread rapidly, crawling up from my fingers to my arms.
I hastily put my gloves back on and tightened my sleeves to conceal it.
If anyone noticed the heretic’s mark on my body, it would undoubtedly lead to accusations of my involvement in the attack.
How much longer could I remain myself?
Not immediately, but I felt an overwhelming fatigue settle in my mind.