F-Rank Secretly Becomes Stronger - Chapter 67

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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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67

 

‘Two of them.’

 

Too few in number to be considered security for this massive mansion.

 

Thinking it’s probably because it’s inspection day, he blocks the Modified Demons flying at him from both sides.

 

Clang―!

 

As soon as he blocks the one flying from the left, the other immediately charges from the right.

 

Juhyeok blocks the attack while using the force to roll and dodge the attack coming from the opposite side.

 

‘They’re strong as expected.’

 

Modified Demons trying to knock him senseless with cooperative attacks.

 

The two swing their swords and sharp fingernails with desperate expressions, trying to find any opening.

 

The Modified Demons’ strength is slightly more powerful than Cerberus.

 

If these two fought Cerberus, unlike himself who had struggled, they would probably finish it off quickly.

 

Of course, Juhyeok had changed a lot compared to back then.

 

‘With increased mana amount, it’s much easier to move.’

 

Mana operates with a feeling similar to human stamina.

 

When you apply force while channeling mana into your hands, your grip strength increases by that amount.

 

During his Academy days, Juhyeok had somehow divided and used that tiny amount efficiently.

 

Now his mana was at least double what it was back then.

 

Moreover, thanks to the Dream Herb, he could exert at least A-grade level power without consuming mana.

 

Considering that when all mana is consumed and depleted, one remains at a level only slightly stronger than an ordinary human, this was quite a tremendous merit.

 

Which meant.

 

Kihyaak―!

 

A level slightly stronger than Cerberus was no longer a match for Juhyeok.

 

“Lots of openings.”

 

Even amid the chaos of combo attacks flying at him, he quickly found and pierced a wing.

 

He thought they had no emotions, but seeing it retreat while feeling pain, it seemed to understand the emotion of fear.

 

‘If my mana amount hadn’t increased, it might have been a bit dangerous.’

 

With D-grade mana amount, mana operation became much easier.

 

Thanks to this, he could now freely use the amount of mana that previously had to be used carefully.

 

Kihik―!

 

The Modified Demon flapped its pierced wing then charged again.

 

The uninjured one on the right.

 

The one with the pierced wing on the left.

 

They flew around here and there, then raised their swords and approached together.

 

A troublesome two-sided attack to block.

 

The two split to both sides and leaped forward as if demanding at least one hit land.

 

An ordinary person might have panicked in this one-against-many situation.

 

But Juhyeok had already experienced this kind of situation countless times in the Training Room.

 

‘Deflect and temple strike.’

 

He had already grasped all of their physical capabilities.

 

Since there seemed no need to gauge them anymore, it was time to end this.

 

Chang―!

 

A sword pushing away with a clean sound.

 

While deflecting the sword that came from the left, he simultaneously wrapped around it and redirected the force to the opposite side.

 

Kiik―?

 

A body dragged along following the direction of the redirected force.

 

It happened so quickly that it couldn’t even think to let go of its sword.

 

The wing-injured Modified Demon was dragged along without any chance to resist.

 

Then it overlapped toward the right Modified Demon that had been launching sword strikes simultaneously.

 

Juhyeok lightly evaded the sword strike coming from the right and threw the demon he had dragged toward that guy.

 

Kihek―!

 

Then the two demons collided with each other.

 

Jung Juhyeok didn’t miss that opportunity and immediately pulled out the sword that had dragged the demon, then stabbed it toward the temple.

 

Kyahak―!

 

Literally two demons skewered like kebabs.

 

Both their heads were pierced through at once, and their bodies went limp.

 

No matter how demonic they were, it seemed they died quickly when their heads were stabbed, showing no signs of moving anymore.

 

‘It ended more anticlimactically than I thought.’

 

The sword embedded in both heads.

 

For confirmation kill, he stirred the blade several times before pulling it out.

 

Then the demon corpse dropped powerlessly to the ground.

 

‘I’ve definitely gotten stronger.’

 

He had felt it during training, but experiencing real combat for the first time made him realize it clearly.

 

Mana that had reached D-rank.

 

Even with F-rank, he had been on par with middle-lower S-rank, but now it was different.

 

‘If I fight again, I’ll win immediately.’

 

The confidence that he could sufficiently achieve victory even against middle S-rank.

 

This wasn’t arrogance but an objective judgment.

 

To begin with, easily achieving victory against two Modified Demons stronger than Cerberus was enough to be comparable to S-rank without it being strange.

 

‘Let’s stop the reflection here and go inside.’

 

A situation where Modified Demons might charge at any moment.

 

Just as Jung Juhyeok was about to go inside.

 

Beep―.

 

A strange sound reached his ears.

 

Beep― Beep―.

 

Like the dial sound when opening a house door.

 

The sound he thought might have been an auditory hallucination clearly asserted itself.

 

The direction was the Modified Demon corpse that had just been rendered unable to fight with its head pierced by the sword.

 

When he turned his head to check, the body was swelling more than before.

 

Beep― Beep― Beep― Beep―

 

The sound gradually getting faster.

 

The Modified Demon’s corpse swelling rapidly in sync with it.

 

An ominous premonition flashed through his mind the moment he saw it, and without time to think, he quickly fled.

 

“Crazy…!”

 

Instantly, two choices presented themselves before him.

 

‘Should I infuse mana into my feet and run? Or wrap it around my whole body for defense?’

 

A split-second decision.

 

Jung Juhyeok saw the large main gate in front of him and quickly made his choice.

 

Beep― Beep― Beep― Beep― Beep― Beep―

 

After infusing mana into his feet, he quickly dove through the main gate.

 

Jung Juhyeok hid behind the massive main gate that could barely fit one person.

 

Boom―!

 

A thunderous explosion that went off perfectly timed just as he hid inside the main gate.

 

Fortunately, the sturdy main gate safely protected Jung Juhyeok from the explosion.

 

“Hah…”

 

Going back inside the mansion to look, the ground was hollowed out in a circular shape as if a giant meteorite had fallen.

 

Judging by the range, it was an explosion that would have caused fatal injuries whether to feet or body if he hadn’t hidden behind the main gate.

 

‘It makes grenades look like kids’ toys.’

 

He felt like he could understand exactly why Mephisto had been so reluctant to go.

 

Not only modifying demons but also putting bombs of this magnitude inside their bodies – anyone would be reluctant to visit such a place.

 

‘I really don’t want to meet him.’

 

Garisto, who clearly didn’t seem to be in his right mind just by looking at him.

 

Since he was a guy who conducted human experiments on his own kind, it was natural to think he wouldn’t be normal.

 

‘Well, all demons are like that.’

 

Guys who seem like ordinary humans when you talk to them, but always have something twisted about them in some aspect.

 

Going to meet a demon who’s called crazy even among those guys made the path ahead already seem bleak.

 

“Sigh… Let’s go.”

 

He let out a deep sigh and entered the mansion that bore traces of explosions.

 

The first thing that greeted him was a garden full of roses bloomed in black.

 

Just by the color alone, it wouldn’t be strange to think they were rotten.

 

However, passing by closely, one could find beauty in the freshly bloomed petals.

 

If they weren’t flowers that bloomed in hell, they were pretty roses he’d want to ask permission to pick one and take home.

 

How many minutes had he walked through the garden full of them?

 

After walking for quite a while, he eventually reached the end.

 

‘I thought there would be some kind of trap…?’

 

The mansion was quite different from expectations, except for encountering the first modified demon.

 

The garden was strangely ordinary, with Juhyeok walking carefully, watching the ground that might collapse at any moment just in case.

 

Coming out of the garden like that, he could see a bridge ahead.

 

A dangerous bridge where falling below would lead to a ground whose end couldn’t be immediately known.

 

The bridge had holes here and there, whether it had become old or was originally designed that way.

 

‘…Was it made for psychological pressure?’

 

He looked around and walked to see if he could go in another direction, but there was nowhere else to go except this bridge.

 

Checking the sign written on the side, there was text written on it.

 

[Precautions when crossing the bridge]

 

[1. Make sure to hold the safety rope when crossing]

 

[2. ]

 

[3. Be careful not to fall into the holes when crossing]

 

[4. There are a total of three precautions.]

 

“…What’s this.”

 

The second precaution that wasn’t properly written.

 

Naturally, this one was definitely a trap too.

 

Juhyeok stared intently at the bridge for a moment, thinking they wouldn’t have just made holes.

 

‘Would it be okay to just cross this?’

 

A bridge that felt somehow ominous.

 

If he carelessly got caught in a trap and fell, he might never return.

 

‘But it’s not like I can turn back either.’

 

If not today, he’d have to spend a year with an artifact like a time bomb attached to his body.

 

Right now, there was no guarantee that the trap would be gone if he came back after a year.

 

The option of retreating here was naturally excluded.

 

‘Hmm…’

 

Eyes that quietly stared at the bridge and the sign.

 

Juhyeok looked back and forth like that for a while, then suddenly looked at the length of the bridge and thought.

 

‘I think I could jump over this?’

 

A bridge that seemed to be about 50 meters long.

 

At this distance, it seemed like he could cross it sufficiently with a running start.

 

Now that his physical abilities had improved with the Dream Herb and his mana amount had increased quite a bit.

 

He thought he could definitely cross this much.

 

As soon as he thought that, he slowly backed away, then rushed toward the bridge.

 

Thud―!

 

He lightly jumped and flew over the bridge.

 

A sword gripped tightly in one hand in case something might appear.

 

However, there was no interference until he landed on the other side.

 

Thud―!

 

He landed perfectly on the other side of the bridge.

 

“What?”

 

He passed through this easily?

 

Juhyeok felt something strange about the trap that ended much more anticlimactically than expected.

 

However, no matter how long he waited, not a single enemy appeared, nor did he feel any sense of discord.

 

‘I keep feeling like someone’s been watching me since earlier, but I’ve been feeling that from the start.’

 

A presence he could roughly guess at.

 

Excluding that continuous feeling from in front of the main entrance, he felt nothing else.

 

‘Is it good that it’s good?’

 

A trap he had passed through lightly for now.

 

Walking forward from there, he soon reached the mansion door that had been visible from afar, and Juhyeok gently pushed the door.

 

When he pushed the door, unlike the main entrance, it opened smoothly.

 

Inside was a medieval Western-style interior that matched the mansion’s exterior.

 

And in the center, a demon stood on the staircase leading to the second floor.

 

“Welcome, intruder.”

 

His deep voice echoed through the spacious and quiet mansion.

 

He looked at Juhyeok with an expressionless face and spoke.

 

“I have no idea how you managed to cross the black rose garden and the bridge… but congratulations anyway.”

 

As he began to clap, applause echoed from all around the mansion along with his.

 

Though he looked around at the sound as if multiple audience members were clapping together, only himself and that demon were present in this place.

 

“Are you Garisto? You look different from the face I know.”

 

“Count Garisto is currently busy, so I, his butler, came out first to greet you.”

 

The demon bowed his head as if apologetic.

 

He displayed proper etiquette befitting his neat formal suit, showing his refinement.

 

The demon paused for a moment, then stroked his chin and spoke.

 

“So what I’m saying is… couldn’t you call it a day and return home today?”

 

“After coming all this way?”

 

“…It was just a suggestion in case, but I suppose not.”

 

A hand reaching into empty air.

 

After rummaging around a bit, he pulled out a simple longsword adorned with only a single red gem.

 

“Let’s finish this as quickly as possible. The Count is quite sensitive to noise.”

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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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