Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School - Chapter 88

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Awakener Special School Ranking 0
88
At that moment, Ji-u didn’t fully grasp what was happening.
‘What…?’
He blinked slowly.
Tae Ga-young stood before him gripping a blade he hadn’t seen her draw.
Along the cool steel, dark blood—nearly black—dripped.
“Well, these things are hardly refined creatures.”
At Tae Ga-young’s voice, Ji-u’s gaze lowered.
‘…An octopus?’
The creature lay perfectly still, already dead from her blade.
“Nearly took Seol Ji-hyo’s head clean off. Lucky my sword was faster.”
Through the gaping wound, blue blood spilled out in a rush, spreading sluggishly across the floor like something viscous.
“Is this… an Infected Creature?”
“It is. Different from the ones you usually see, isn’t it?”
Ji-u spotted the octopus’s eyes glinting like jewels on the floor. Likely Magic Stones.
Tae Ga-young shook the blood from her blade as she spoke.
“In specialized Abysses like this one, you get equally specialized Infected Creatures, or so I’ve heard. Though I’m seeing one for the first time myself.”
With that, Tae Ga-young’s eyes swept rapidly across their surroundings once more.
“Looks like they’re lurking throughout the ship. Creatures of this form can squeeze into tight spaces.”
“If they swallow humans whole, that would explain why there are no bodies or blood traces left behind.”
“Right. Stay sharp. You never know—it was an octopus this time, but next might be a shark.”
Just then, Tae Ga-young flashed a deliberately menacing smile.
Crunch!
Ji-u suddenly reached behind Tae Ga-young.
“…?!”
Her eyes flew wide as she spun around.
An Infected Creature had burst through a cabin door’s gap—this time targeting Tae Ga-young.
But in a blink, it was caught in Ji-u’s grip.
Thud.
Something fell from Ji-u’s hand.
Blue blood.
The tentacle that had writhed in his fist went limp.
Wonder spread across Tae Ga-young’s face.
‘…With his bare hands…?’
Even Tae Ga-young, whom Do Min-gi constantly chided for being barbaric, had never grabbed an Infected Creature with her bare hands.
Yet this boy had not only seized it—he’d crushed it like a water balloon.
Moreover—
‘I didn’t sense a thing just now.’
Tae Ga-young was so sensitive to presence that people said she had eyes in the back of her head.
Though it had emerged from a blind spot, she should have noticed it approaching if it came a little closer.
Yet Ji-u had reached out before she’d even detected it.
Ji-u stared at the blood dripping between his fingers, muttering:
“Shame. Another octopus.”
“…What?”
“Or maybe it’s a live octopus?”
“…….”
“A cuttlefish?”
Tae Ga-young stared at him blankly before bursting out laughing.
Then she covered her mouth with a hot sound.
“Ah, sorry. This isn’t the time to laugh.”
Yet Ji-u, still holding the corpse, wore a gravely serious expression.
Something about the mood felt off.
Tae Ga-young’s face hardened gradually.
“What’s wrong? Is something the matter?”
Was it still alive?
Or perhaps… toxic poison?
Caution flickered in Tae Ga-young’s eyes.
She drew her blade again and took a step toward Ji-u.
“Do you think we could eat this?”
Tae Ga-young burst into helpless laughter.
After that, the two descended floor by floor.
They were now on the second level.
They’d encountered Infected Creatures on the way down several times, though nothing posed a serious threat to two non-ordinary people.
Tae Ga-young tapped a fallen creature with her sword tip, murmuring:
“That makes seven.”
“Eight.”
Ji-u corrected from behind.
Turning, she saw him tossing another corpse through a window.
“I’ve rarely met someone who keeps pace with me like this. Do Min-gi wasn’t even close.”
Indeed, the person who’d swept first place in every subject at the recent exam.
As she watched Ji-u dust off his hands, Tae Ga-young’s eyes suddenly widened.
“Hmm? That scar…”
A faint scar marked the back of Ji-u’s hand.
From when he’d visited his family home and absorbed an Infected Creature from Seol Ji-hyo.
It had nearly healed, but Tae Ga-young’s sharp eye caught it.
Aware of her gaze, Ji-u quietly covered his hand.
But it was already too late.
Tae Ga-young tilted her head.
“That scar’s still there?”
‘That scar’?
Unsure what she meant, he chose evasion over pressing the matter.
“Scars tend to linger for a while, I guess.”
“Even with a Regeneration Core? Hmm.”
Tae Ga-young tapped her chin lightly.
“Though wounds from Infected Creatures are different from ordinary injuries.”
She nodded to herself in understanding, then strode forward with purpose.
Ji-u watched her departing back with an odd expression.
And for good reason.
‘How did she know it was from an Infected Creature bite?’
At first glance, it looked no different from human bite marks.
Perhaps her extensive Abyss experience meant she’d faced enough creatures to recognize the sign?
Yet something about that didn’t sit right…
Then she called out:
“Seol Ji-hyo.”
Ji-u heard Tae Ga-young’s voice from ahead.
He followed her gaze automatically.
At the end of her line of sight lay someone unconscious.
The uniform resembled the sailor they’d found earlier in the captain’s quarters.
But gold stripes adorned the shoulder boards.
“That person appears to be the captain.”
Tae Ga-young picked up an object nearby as she spoke.
A Captain’s Hat with a white brim and gold emblem.
* * *
Ji-u and Tae Ga-young brought the unconscious captain back to the upper deck.
“C-Captain…!”
The sailor, who’d been waiting as instructed, hurried over at the sight of the man on Tae Ga-young’s back.
From his reaction, it was clear they’d found the captain.
“Ugh, ahhh…”
The captain was, fortunately, still alive.
But his entire body was smeared with slime as if he’d been bathed in seaweed.
The details were unclear, but—
from the circumstances, it seemed an Infected Creature resembling marine life had swallowed him, then later regurgitated him.
Because of that, the Toxic Poison seemed to be less advanced than in the sailor.
Meanwhile, the sailor’s CPR seemed to have worked.
The captain, who’d been unconscious, vomited sticky, transparent fluid and opened his eyes.
“Captain, are you conscious? Captain!”
“Cough, cough…!”
“Captain?!”
“You… you are… where am I?”
“This is the captain’s quarters. These people rescued you and brought you here.”
The captain’s eyes turned toward them.
Tae Ga-young gave a slight bow and approached.
“We’re the Special Team from Ga-on. May I ask what happened?”
“…….”
The captain’s face remained vacant with shock.
“Take a breath first. It’s alright. We’ve secured this area.”
Tae Ga-young lowered herself to meet his gaze and spoke in the calmest voice she could manage.
After laying him back carefully, she accepted water from the sailor and offered it to him.
Ji-u watched from a few steps away.
‘The captain really is something.’
She moved like a rescue worker. That familiar grace.
Even after multiple battles on the lower levels, not a trace of exhaustion showed.
Ji-u might be an artificially created Awakener, but Tae Ga-young was surely no ordinary one.
In some ways, she seemed even more mechanical than he was.
‘That’s why she’s the captain.’
Not just the team members, but even the strict-seeming Do Min-gi—
and now he understood why the entire student body trusted and followed Tae Ga-young.
Once the captain seemed to have stabilized, Tae Ga-young asked again:
“You were attacked by Infected Creatures, correct?”
“Attacked…”
“Yes. But from our patrol, we found only a few small ones. It’s strange that so many crew members vanished without a trace from such minor threats. Did something else occur?”
“…….”
The captain’s face went deathly pale.
Snap!
He shot to his feet and stumbled toward the helm, frantically spinning the wheel.
“We have to leave this place now!”
“Captain?!”
Even the sailor turned in alarm.
But the captain seemed not to hear. Ashen-faced, he muttered:
“The monster… that monster will come again!”
A monster?
Tae Ga-young and Ji-u’s expressions hardened.

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