"H-how…? I swear there were no footprints…!"

Oh Jihoo’s voice shook with shock.

Out of the gang of nine, four were already down. That left Oh Jihoo and four girls—five in total.

Then—whoosh—came the sound of fire igniting.

A Fireball rose behind Meiling’s back.

"Hey! Everyone out here!"

At Oh Jihoo’s shout, more kids emerged from every corner of the factory.

Eight in total appeared.

All of these are Crystal?

Counting the ones already on the ground, that made seventeen.

I didn’t know Crystal Academy had this many thugs.

"I’ll take responsibility! Kill them all!"

At his second roar, twelve kids—boys and girls alike—raised weapons.

Six charged with blades, spears, and axes. Three stayed back and began casting spell skills.

The remaining three targeted Lumina.

But by then, Meiling had already finished casting her Flame Cluster.

Eight blazing orbs arced through the air and rained down on the punks.

"D-Defend!"

At the shout, every one of them facing us threw up a magic shield.

I muttered, "As if that’ll help."

KWA-BOOM!

"Aaagh!!"

"Guhh—!"

Meiling’s Fireballs shattered their magic shields like glass and smashed into the bodies behind them.

All six rushing attackers went up in flames. Of the three casters, two caught fire and rolled screaming across the floor.

Meiling was using her old level-30 wand. If she used her level-50 combat gear, they’d probably die in a single hit, so I had her swap it out.

Even so, her attack power was more than enough to pierce Hunter-candidate defenses—especially with an S in Energy.

While screams echoed through the factory, Meiling conjured another Flame Cluster.

"n-no…"

One girl with a staff went ashen, dropped to her knees, tossed her weapon aside, and raised both hands.

"I—I surrender! It was our fault!"

"You damned idiot! Who told you to—!"

Oh Jihoo shouted.

Meiling glanced at me over her wand, silently asking what to do.

"Fire."

"Okay."

Her answer came with a blazing impact as a Fireball slammed into the kneeling trash.

"Kyaaaa!"

Her shriek rang out. Oh Jihoo’s face went even harder.

"Kh—!"

"Urgh…"

Groans sounded to our rear.

Oh Jihoo flinched and looked back.

Lumina stood there with a dagger in hand.

The number of thugs sprawled around her had climbed to seven.

"Wh-what are you people!?"

Oh Jihoo yelled at us.

"Why do you want to know?" I asked, meeting the fear in his eyes, "Think knowing will help you walk away alive?"

"…"

He bared his teeth at me, but the snarl only lived on his face. His feet were already backing away.

"Where do you think you’re going? You beat up bystanders, kidnapped strangers, and planned to kill us—now you’re just going to run? That’s rich."

I spun my item sling and walked toward him.

Seo Yui and Meiling moved in alongside me.

Lumina circled to his back.

"D-don’t come any closer!!"

Oh Jihoo’s body flared with golden light.

With my free hand, I touched the Lens of Lavzahi in my pocket.

After getting sick of all the status windows popping up every time, I’d found an ON/OFF function.

The switch worked through skin contact with the lens.

Lightning Summon. An Electric-attribute ability, huh.

I hurled the item in my sling at him.

The glass vial shattered, splashing liquid across his torso.

"Huh!?"

He stared down at himself, panic rising. Starting from his belly, his skin turned ashen-gray.

"Stoneflesh Potion," I said, watching the gold light fade from his body, "You learned about petrification in the academy, right? The skin turns to stone first, then it creeps inward—bones and organs all harden until you’re a statue. Of course, you’ll suffocate before you get that far."

Oh Jihoo toppled sideways to the floor.

The petrification was spreading down his legs.

"It’s a terrifying status condition, but the fix is simple. As long as it’s not complete, you just drink or apply a cure potion. However…"

I looked down at him as he stiffened by the second.

"Unfortunately for you, there’s no one here willing to apply a cure."

"S-save…"

He reached a still-flexible arm toward me.

"Seriously? Begging the person you tried to kill? Got any shame left?"

I kicked his shoulder—the part that hadn’t hardened yet—and rolled him flat on his back. Tears leaked from his eyes.

What began at his belly was already at his throat. His breath rasped.

Soon it crossed his jaw and crawled toward his lips.

"U…uh…"

He tried to speak, but only garbled sounds escaped.

Tears slid again as his pupils trembled at the approaching death.

When the stone crept up to his forehead, I splashed a Stoneflesh Cure over his face.

The gray faded quickly from his skin.

"Hah… hah… hah…"

He shot upright, panting, then grabbed at his neck to make sure it worked.

He looked up at me, baffled.

"Killing you right away would be a waste," I said.

From my inventory, I took out a Lightning Grenade, a Flame Orb, Spike Bombs, a Frost Mine, a Venom Flask—every kind of attack and status item.

His eyes shook harder than before.

"Let’s find the death that suits you best."

"N-noooooooo!!!!!"

I lobbed the Lightning Grenade at the cockroach of a man scuttling away on all fours.

Golden sparks flashed. He collapsed, convulsing.

I walked up to him as he twitched, paralyzed.

"Y-Yein… a-are you really g-going to k-kill him?"

Lumina’s voice trembled with fear.

"Of course not."

I smiled at her.

"It’d be satisfying, sure, but then we’d be no better than this filthy bastard."

Relief softened her face.

"But we do have to carve it into his body that making us enemies is the dumbest mistake of his life—so he doesn’t try anything again."

I rolled a Flame Orb beside him and stepped back.

Fire blossomed, swallowing him in heat.

"Aaaaargh!!"

The shock must have worn off; he thrashed and rolled, trying to put out the flames.

"Senior Aran."

I looked back.

"Y-yes!? W-why—why me?"

He snapped to attention with a shout.

I handed him three HP Recovery Potions.

"Treat your friends’ wounds. Then the four of you go stand at the factory doors and make sure no one slips out."

"O-okay?"

"That one’s the leader, but everyone on this floor is the same kind of scum."

At that, I felt flinches from all around.

"Senior," I added to Seo Yui, "take Meiling and Lumina and drag every fallen one to me."

"Got it."

Seo Yui nodded and moved out with Meiling and Lumina.

What followed were cries and frantic apologies from every corner. I answered with explosions and the crack of shattering glass.

Halfway through, I decided not to waste any more items and switched to Meiling’s Flame Clusters.

She swung the low-level wand with a grin, clearly enjoying herself.

Lumina, on the other hand, retreated to a corner, eyes shut and hands over her ears.

Seo Yui had stayed by Lumina’s side, watching over her as she sat trembling with her ears covered.

Two hours later.

I stood before a row of kneeling thugs, staring down at them.

They looked pitiful.

Tear streaks stained their cheeks. Soot smeared their faces and clothes. Their hair stuck up in frizzed, wiry curls, as though they’d been given bad perms.

On top of that, their wrists and ankles were bound tight with the roots of Blackwater, making them look like prisoners of war.

Of course, the ones who had put them in this state were Meiling and me.

But they were all perfectly healthy. I had poured HP potions over them after all.

"Attention."

The moment I spoke, every single one of them flinched and lifted their gaze toward me.

"What happened here today?"

The gangsters blinked dumbly or looked around at one another, lost and confused.

"Hmm. I guess the lesson didn’t sink in. Seems we’ll need more education. Meiling."

At my call, Meiling raised her wand and conjured a Flame Cluster.

The thugs’ eyes widened in panic.

"N-nothing happened here!!!"

The one who shouted was Oh Jihoo.

"See? The leader’s smart enough to get it."

I raised a hand to block Meiling. She clicked her tongue in disappointment and lowered her wand. The flames winked out.

The gangsters let out shaky sighs of relief.

"If even a whisper of today reaches my ears—if I hear so much as a rumor—you’ll be begging for this place to feel like heaven compared to what I’ll do next."

Their eyes shook wildly. One hiccupped. Another burst into fresh tears.

For reference, I had already used a little heat to pull out their names, addresses, and phone numbers. Every last one.

And to prevent any recordings or photos, I’d burned all their phones and smartwatches.

"Alright then. After today, I’d better never see any of you again. Got it?"

I flashed a bright smile. The thugs bobbed their heads frantically.

"You seniors understand too, right?"

I winked at Aran and his three friends.

[Yes, sir!!]

All four of them snapped to attention like soldiers.

Three weeks passed since the Crystal gang incident.

The rainy season ended. Summer arrived in full. Our squad spent every day inside dungeons.

Looks like we’ve reached the point where leveling up is nearly impossible.

Inside a dungeon, I trailed behind the three.

With a touch to the Lens of Lavzahi, I pulled up their stat windows.

All three: Level 55.

Their Abilities: Level 2 each.

We hit the goal I set for summer break.

Originally, my target had been Level 50. We overshot it.

At this rate, we’d be able to handle almost anything in Phase 2.

The problem is how twisted the quest lines are.

High-level quests crashing down early—Persilla, the Demon Cult.

Dungeon transfer events happening way ahead of schedule.

And then things that didn’t exist at all before—like the dungeon lockdown, or running into Jodie out of nowhere.

I gave a bitter laugh.

I remembered the message I saw before coming to this world: Harder than Hardcore.

This difficulty couldn’t even be compared to Hardcore.

But it was what it was.

You accept what you must, and move forward doing your best.

Still, thinking I’ll have to survive like this for two and a half more years makes me dizzy.

My only crime was immersing myself too deeply in Latessia.

"…"

That word—crime—sparked another thought.

Though time had passed, I still hadn’t forgotten.

"Senior, should we head back soon?"

I shook my head at Seo Yui, "Yeah. Let’s go."

"What? Already?" Meiling’s face twisted in protest.

"And why have we been circling only the 4th floor all day? With our strength we could push up to the 6th. The higher floors give more exp, don’t they?"

"You’re right—monsters on the 5th and 6th floors do give better exp. But starting from the 5th, this dungeon spawns too many annoying monsters. Fighting each one wastes time. It’s safer and more efficient to just sweep the 4th floor. Also, the respawn rate here from 1st to 4th floor is way faster than in other dungeons."

In short, today I chose quantity over quality.

"…"

Meiling shut her mouth.

That was one of her strengths—once given a reasonable explanation, she didn’t keep arguing. A real idiot would.

As we headed toward the exit portal, we stopped.

Coming from ahead was a party of four, all about our age.

"Huh?"

"Eh?"

The two at the front tilted their heads at us—and then recognition dawned.

"Nam Yein?"

"It is Nam Yein!"

The two were the Magica Academy’s student representatives—Zen and Rune.

They looked nearly identical, except for their striking hair colors: one crimson, the other navy.

"Been a while," I greeted lightly.

"What are you doing on the 4th floor?" Zen’s eyes widened.

"…"

Beside me, Meiling’s expression turned dark.

"We’re here training with the squad," I answered.

"No, I mean—why are Gwangcheon kids on the 4th flo—ow!"

Rune stomped on his foot.

"Idiot. Shut it. Sorry about him. I’ll apologize for him."

I nodded. "Are you two here to train as well?"

"Yeah. We’ve got HAUT this fall."

I knew.

Zen and Rune were second-years at this point, student reps of Magica—and HAUT selections.

"Nam Yein."

Meiling called out to me.

"Who are they?"

"Zen and Rune, Magica Academy’s student reps. I met them during that rally incident."

"Hmm. Magica Academy."

Meiling’s eyes swept over them.

Zen frowned in confusion. Rune narrowed his brows, clearly displeased.

"Don’t look like much. Short. Are you sure you’re not just freshmen, not reps?"

The air froze.

It was a blatant provocation. Payback for Zen’s slip earlier, no doubt.

But that hit them right where it hurt.

"What? Short? Freshmen?"

Zen’s eyes blazed at Meiling. Rune’s frown deepened.

The air between them crackled like sparks.

Zen and Rune’s biggest complex— was their small stature.

…But Meiling, you’re barely taller than them yourself.

(End of Chapter)

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