Even if I Make It Roughly, Ex-rank Items Continue to Accumulate - Chapter 80

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Even Hastily Made Ones Keep Stacking Up as EX-Rank (80)

There Is a Way

As they descended underground, a massive space revealed itself.

The location where facilities for maintaining the Magical Engineering Academy were situated. He knew that much, but the scale was beyond imagination.

“This is probably bigger than most cities.”

Just the visible buildings alone numbered over a dozen.

Under the dim artificial lighting, well-maintained roads and buildings were visible. Even though there shouldn’t have been many people coming and going, it appeared quite well-managed.

And in the center of it all.

“Core.”

In the ceiling of the underground space, an enormous core was embedded.

From the blue crystal-like core, crackling sparks intermittently flew.

Professor Hong Yong-jin clicked his tongue.

“…As expected, it’s not in perfect condition.”

“It’s probably because of the Space Compression Field. We’ll need to get closer to confirm it.”

This was the outskirts of the underground space.

Meanwhile, the core was positioned exactly in the central area. Even that was suspended from the ceiling, so it would be much farther away than it appeared.

“Let’s hurry. Before it’s too late.”

“Right.”

Lee Si-hyeok and Professor Hong Yong-jin quickened their pace.

Between buildings, they immediately calculated the optimal route and found the fastest path.

Even while doing so, they didn’t let their guard down.

As if splitting his brain space in half, Lee Si-hyeok meticulously analyzed the mana flow throughout the surrounding area.

‘This is naturally occurring mana, and this is…’

Then, Lee Si-hyeok’s steps came to an abrupt halt.

“Hmm?”

Professor Hong Yong-jin, who had been walking quickly, turned around with a puzzled expression. Having a considerably smaller stride than Lee Si-hyeok, he had to move much more and was quite out of breath.

“Why all of a sudden?”

“Over there, to the left.”

Lee Si-hyeok extended his hand and pointed to a building on the left side of the road.

It was a three-story building. Located in a shadowy area with all the lights turned off, it gave off an eerie atmosphere.

But why that building? Professor Hong Yong-jin tilted his head.

“Below the second floor window frame. There’s a person collapsed there.”

“A person?”

However, there was no time to ask in detail. Lee Si-hyeok briefly checked the time, then entered the building without hesitation.

In the midst of being this busy, he even discovered there was a person in the building?

When he was already dying from exhaustion just from walking?

‘This guy would have been hugely successful even as a Hunter.’

Wouldn’t he have been at least S-rank or higher? Hong Yong-jin was once again amazed while hurriedly following Lee Si-hyeok into the building.

Dragging his heavy legs up to the second floor, there was indeed a person collapsed there, just as he had said.

A room with lights off, a wide-open window.

The blue light from the core in the underground center weakly seeped in through the window frame. In the lukewarm room, Hong Yong-jin asked Lee Si-hyeok, who was quietly looking down at the collapsed man.

“…Is he dead?”

“No, he’s alive.”

Just barely before death, though.

Soon Lee Si-hyeok knelt down in front of the man and took out a small artifact from his chest. It seemed he had been analyzing something while quietly looking down earlier.

“He was probably a security guard protecting the core. He must have guarded this place until the end and been taken down by Chronos’s Hunters.”

The artifact Lee Si-hyeok took out had a quite familiar appearance to Hong Yong-jin.

‘That’s…’

The healing-type artifact that Lee Si-hyeok had presented in the first session of the seminar.

The one that even had an ‘Awakening Agent’ function added by turning Ray Wen’s scheme against him – it would be nothing short of miraculous in terms of healing.

“You’re planning to help him before we go, I see.”

“Yes. We can’t just leave him like this.”

“Hmm…”

Hong Yong-jin inwardly groaned.

Time was running short. Only 45 minutes remained now. Once this time passed, a mana fracture would occur, and the entire Eterion area would obviously be swallowed up.

When that happened, Lee Si-hyeok would also end up in a state worse than death.

Yet he couldn’t understand why he was being so leisurely about it.

Could it be that his judgment was clouded in the face of death?

If so, he should step forward and lead him even now…

“Huh?”

Hong Yong-jin’s mouth, which was about to say something, closed.

Swish, swoosh.

Lee Si-hyeok, who had completed all the healing in the blink of an eye, suddenly began undressing the man.

“What, what are you doing?”

“There’s something I need to take.”

Then, after removing the coat and even the bulletproof vest, he put his hand into the shirt’s inner pocket and pulled something out.

A small object with a bluish tinge.

“A key?”

“It’s a key that allows access to the central core. With this, we should be able to approach the core without any time delay.”

It felt like administrator privileges.

While heading toward the core, Lee Si-hyeok had focused his search on two things.

Were there any Chronos Hunters remaining underground?

And was there a way to directly access the core?

Fortunately, most of the remaining Chronos Hunters were concentrated in the central district, near the core. Even then, many seemed to have left, so it wasn’t enough to be particularly wary of.

‘I have Isaac with me.’

If Isaac, who was probably in stealth in this room right now, stepped forward, there would be nothing to worry about in combat.

However, since time was short, how quickly they could approach the core was important.

“…So that’s this key.”

“Correct. Although Chronos joined forces with the Dean to infiltrate underground, there would still have been security guards who remained unaware of the Dean’s scheme.”

Such security guards would have been ruthlessly attacked by the Hunters.

Just like this man collapsed in front of Lee Si-hyeok now.

“Of course, there are definitely ways to enter the core even without a key. We could hack it or force our way through.”

“But then time would inevitably be delayed.”

“Yes. Every minute and second is precious.”

In the end, this path was the fastest route.

—Clunk.

Lee Si-hyeok gently laid the man on the first floor bed and came out of the building.

Now he had gathered everything he needed. He looked around once more, but there didn’t seem to be anything particularly caught by his Ki Sense.

“Let’s depart. We just need to go straight to the core now.”

Lee Si-hyeok, who had been walking ahead, suddenly turned his head.

“Should I carry you on my back if you’re tired?”

“…Forget it, you brat.”

 

* * *

 

The central area they arrived at shortly after.

As expected, about a dozen Hunters were waiting at the passage leading to where the core was stored.

“It’s Pyo Jae-hwan’s order! Block them from entering!”

“I’ll kill you right here!”

“I’ll face you first…”

—Thud, thud!

“Gaaah!”

“R-run! What kind of monster is this… Urgh.”

In less than a minute after Isaac revealed himself, everything was settled.

“Whew. Isaac Reynolds…”

Even Professor Hong Yong-jin looked quite surprised.

Still, he didn’t kill them on the spot. Since there might be a need to interrogate them later, he merely rendered them unable to fight for now.

Of course, “unable to fight” was open to interpretation, but for Isaac, it certainly wasn’t on the gentlemanly side.

He passed through the blood-stained corridor and went inside.

—Authentication complete. Security personnel B-17. Entry permitted.

When he carefully inserted the key into the security door at the end, the door opened.

The ‘Core Chamber’ where the core was stored was shaped like a dome.

A massive dome located directly beneath a blue crystal hanging upside down from the ceiling.

“Ooh.”

Inside the dome, he climbed up the circular stairs that spiraled around.

As Professor Hong Yong-jin had exclaimed in admiration, the interior was a more unexpected sight than anticipated.

The mana circuits continuously circulating around the stairs felt like an ancient altar, and the low resonant sound echoing in his ears somehow made them feel stuffy.

Finally, they reached their destination.

“Is this… the core?”

At the end of the stairs, there was a blue orb placed inside reinforced glass.

Such central cores are only used in large-scale facilities, so it’s extremely rare to see one. Perhaps that’s why Professor Hong Yong-jin also seemed quite fascinated.

“…”

However, the admiration was brief.

Soon, Lee Si-hyeok’s expression turned cold as if cold water had been poured on him.

“…The condition is serious.”

“It seems so. They’ve embedded the spatial compression device quite firmly.”

Originally, spatial compression devices are activated by ‘attaching’ them.

Like in Pyo Jae-hwan’s first plan, where devices were simply installed inside buildings or easily attached to existing energy sources.

But now it was different.

Whooooo…

A strange distortion could be detected within the resonant sound.

Normally, only clear sounds should be heard, but now impurities were woven into them.

‘They completely hammered the compression device into the core’s interior.’

It was no different from disassembling the existing form of the spatial compression device and injecting its internal components into the core like a syringe.

It was crude and simple, but if the goal was solely mana rampage, there probably wasn’t a more effective method.

“What are you planning to do? Things have become more complicated than expected.”

“You’re right about that.”

“…What?”

Professor Hong Yong-jin’s eyebrows furrowed at the words he heard.

“You’re right about that”? Didn’t he come here with some plan in mind?

However, Lee Si-hyeok continued in a calm voice.

“Separating the spatial compression device from the core is impossible. It’s not a matter of difficult or not. It’s literally impossible.”

Even Lee Si-hyeok was no different.

To use an analogy, when two gases are completely mixed, ‘perfectly’ separating them back to their original state is practically impossible.

Of course, given enough time, he might somehow manage it… but the problem was time.

“And we can’t stop the core’s operation either. Looking at it, the spatial compression device Pyo Jae-hwan installed is like a time bomb. If we stop it, it’ll explode immediately.”

“N-no. Then what are you planning to do? Just die like this?”

“No. Why would we die?”

“…?”

Questions arose in Professor Hong Yong-jin’s violently trembling pupils.

At the end of his gaze, Lee Si-hyeok was smiling.

“There is a way.”

It was a relaxed and composed smile, more characteristic of Lee Si-hyeok than ever before.

 

* * *

 

“I wonder how things are going.”

Dozens of kilometers away from Eterion Magical Engineering Academy.

At a distant position where the academy’s appearance could only be faintly seen, Pyo Jae-hwan, wearing handcuffs, was grinning wickedly.

“I’m curious. How it will turn out.”

Countless resentful gazes from Lee Young-hoon, Yoon Seo-jin, and others poured down on him from around, but he didn’t care.

He just smiled gleefully while examining the academy from various angles.

Then, suddenly, he turned to look at Yoon Seo-jin.

“Hey, Seo-jin.”

“…Don’t call my name. I want to kill you.”

“What time is it now?”

“You damn bastard, shut your mouth…!”

Yoon Seo-jin, unable to contain herself, raised her fist. Fortunately, it didn’t fly. Lee Young-hoon beside her had grabbed her.

Eventually, Yoon Seo-jin fumed and turned her head away, and Lee Young-hoon told him the time instead.

“Is that so? Not much time left.”

The smile lingering on his lips became even clearer.

About 3 minutes remaining.

Now it was so close that it was hard to even call it a short while. While enjoying his excited mood waiting for the ether that would soon come to him, a rift would naturally occur.

“…”

Unlike Pyo Jae-hwan who was grinning alone, all the other people had serious expressions.

Could it be that he failed? That Lee Si-hyeok?

Such worry struck them. Yoon Seo-jin bit her lips so hard that blood came out, and Chairman Lee Young-hoon and Lee Gang-mok, who had arrived late, unconsciously clenched their fists.

They couldn’t believe it.

If it was the Lee Si-hyeok they knew, there was no way he would fail.

He should have finished the job at least 30 minutes earlier, so why was he so late?

“Hehe, now it’s 1 minute.”

Pyo Jae-hwan muttered happily.

The others probably didn’t know, but there was a fact that only he knew.

That was that the aftermath of the rift would reach even here.

They seemed to feel safe being just a few dozen kilometers away, but the spatial compression device Pyo Jae-hwan had planned for years wasn’t that simple.

To think they were gathered here acting all important but couldn’t even grasp this much.

‘Stupid bastards. Disgusting.’

He had always found this aspect of engineers disgusting. Pyo Jae-hwan’s inner thoughts, who had always appeared exemplary, were twisted beyond anyone’s imagination. Greed, inferiority complex, superiority complex.

And his true personality was created by the mixture of such emotions.

“Now it’s the end.”

The time had come.

Everyone’s expressions were colored with despair, and Pyo Jae-hwan’s lips curled up even more.

He counted the numbers with the greatest joy of his life.

‘3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second.’

And now…

“…Huh?”

His head tilted. What?

No reaction occurred at all. No explosion sound, no signs of a rift. Nothing at all. The academy’s appearance remained quiet as ever.

Had some error occurred?

It was the moment when Pyo Jae-hwan blinked his eyes.

—Kugugung.

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble.

Vibrations could be felt from the floor as the entire space started to shake.

“Uh, uhh?”

“Is it an earthquake?”

While others panicked, Pyo Jae-hwan felt secretly relieved.

‘It’s working well. I was worried for nothing.’

It might be mistaken for an earthquake, but this was a sign of the Rift.

As he thought this and tried to smile again.

Kugugugugugugung!

“Hey, that building over there…!”

“What the hell, this is crazy!”

The Eterion Magical Engineering Academy visible in the distance.

The entire site began vibrating like mad.

—Kwaaaaang!

Like something out of an animation, the ground and the entire Engineering Academy site began separating.

The underground facilities that had been buried in the earth were completely exposed.

Dust clouds spread in all directions, and rocks that had been hidden in the ground fell everywhere.

As the site was gradually pulled upward.

“It’s, it’s flying into the sky…?”

It began rising into the air.

At an uncontrollable speed.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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