S-Classes That I Raised to Devour - Chapter 52

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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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Episode 52. Knowledge Alone Is Not Enough (3)
Kim Yeoul and Lee Minji saw Chae Mujin as their teacher.
But it was the opposite.
While he shared knowledge he already possessed, most of the time Chae Mujin was guessing or knew nothing at all.
In other words, Chae Mujin was learning alongside them.
‘One day these will become weapons and skills that I’ll wield.’
Kim Yeoul’s Magic and Lee Minji’s mastery of the Hammer Technique—ultimately, they were things Chae Mujin would absorb for himself. Because he harbored this sense of ownership, he devoted himself to refining both Magic and the Hammer Technique with even greater attachment than Kim Yeoul and Lee Minji themselves.
Even now, it was the same. Chae Mujin approached Lee Minji with a specially commissioned Wooden Hammer in hand.
“What’s this, sir? Did you make that hammer to match mine?”
“It’s large, but made of wood so I can lift it too.”
“And?”
“From now on, I’ll attack you. You’re not to counterattack—only dodge.”
“What?”
“I haven’t just been watching for the past week.”
Whoosh!
The hammer swung through the air. Despite its lightness, the wind pressure was considerable.
Yet relative to the sound and force, Lee Minji dodged easily.
That was because Chae Mujin’s Buff was active on her.
‘No, it’s not about speed.’
She had sidestepped without difficulty, but Lee Minji sensed it wasn’t because she was faster than Chae Mujin.
‘Too obvious.’
She could see exactly where he aimed each attack. Moreover, the gaps between strikes were far too wide.
Had he not ordered her to refrain from counterattacking, she could have slipped inside his guard and landed a dozen more hits.
Chae Mujin didn’t give up, pressing his assault relentlessly.
His attacks came in only two varieties: downward strikes or sweeps. Or perhaps larger sweeps or strikes.
After attacking for some time, Chae Mujin stopped and spoke.
“Now I’m attacking my way.”
“What?”
In that moment, Chae Mujin pulled the hammer back and drove his body forward first.
“Oh!”
The speed was the same as before. But the pressure was different.
Thud!
He hadn’t even swung the hammer yet, and she’d already widened the distance. It was because of her uncertainty about when the hammer would appear.
Chae Mujin continued to press in. Lee Minji was much faster, but terrain forced her to stop.
Lee Minji was getting frustrated.
Why was she retreating? The hammer was slow anyway—she could see and dodge it.
But Chae Mujin didn’t swing immediately. He feinted, raising the hammer overhead as if to strike, then brought it down.
Bang!
It was a simple feint, but because the hammer was so large, she couldn’t tell if it was a real attack or just a preparatory motion.
Lee Minji rolled out of the way, but in that instant her spine went cold.
“Are you trying to kill me?!”
“You won’t die. It’s wooden, and I’ve got a Buff on you too.”
The moment he finished speaking, his attacks resumed, but his style had changed. He gripped the hammer with both hands, holding it short, and rushed forward.
This time Lee Minji didn’t retreat—she met him head-on. Her pride was wounded.
‘I’ve been using large hammers as weapons for years longer than this man.’
Whereas Chae Mujin had only had them for a day or two. Even accounting for secret practice, he’d known her for barely a month.
“But what on earth is that movement?!”
He rotated the short-gripped hammer as he closed in.
She knew intellectually that the impact would be safe, but a primal fear that a blow from that hammer would shatter her entire body seized her first.
Still, she had already overcome fear. And she had already experienced feints.
‘Even if he feints, it’s either a downward strike or a sweep.’
She steeled herself to watch to the end and block the hammer with her hands. The moment she looked—
Thunk!
The massive hammer shot forward in a straight line without losing its rotational force.
Lee Minji’s senses, trained to anticipate the arc of a sweep, screamed in alarm.
The blunt hammer head, heavier than a spear point, bore down brutally on her chest.
“Ugh!”
A dull impact rippled through her entire body.
Lee Minji couldn’t believe it.
‘He thrust it like a spear? With a hammer?’
The power was far less than a downward strike or sweep. But it had been a blow she never saw coming.
A hammer coming in a straight line. She’d never thought such an attack was possible.
“Cough, cough.”
The mental shock overwhelmed the physical impact of the hammer, leaving Lee Minji dazed.
As Lee Minji lay fallen, Chae Mujin didn’t extend his hand to help her up.
“Minji, do you even intend to beat the Magical Girl? You’re resting after just one blow to the chest? Are you tired?”
Chae Mujin, who had handed the Wooden Hammer over to Lee Minji, snapped his fingers.
“Your turn. Come on.”
“Hehe. Hehehehe.”
Taking the Wooden Hammer, only one thought filled Lee Minji’s mind.
“You started first!”
She charged at tremendous speed, as if she’d never been tired at all.
This time, Lee Minji attacked without hesitation. There was no reason to hesitate. Because of the Buff. Because she was safe. Because Chae Mujin could just apply his own Buff too.
That’s right. Chae Mujin hadn’t mentioned the penalty of his Buff.
The penalty that he couldn’t apply Buffs to himself.
In other words, Chae Mujin attacking Lee Minji and Lee Minji attacking Chae Mujin were completely different scenarios.
Each arc of the hammer she swung was a line of death. The fear that even grazing contact would shatter bones.
Chae Mujin moved, using that fear as his driving force. Kim Yeoul and Lee Minji had a clear destination: S-Rank. But he was looking beyond.
A path with no destination, an eternal ascent.
And so he had no choice but to stake his life on growth.
* * *
From the second week onward, Chae Mujin added sparring with Lee Minji to the curriculum.
Lee Minji felt it herself—how she grew with each passing day.
It wasn’t merely a feeling, either. Hunting Iron-Armored Bees now felt trivial.
“Huuuh.”
Drawing in a deep breath, Lee Minji gripped the hammer short and swung. An Iron-Armored Bee approaching at 50 mph was struck directly and became pulp.
One, two, three… even when nine swarmed at once, Lee Minji dispatched them in sequence. Like a batter hitting pitches.
“Haaa.”
After exhaling, she charged toward an Iron-Armored Bee. It shot high into the air and fled.
Lee Minji leaped with all her strength. But it was short—her jump fell about a head’s length shy of reaching the bee.
Whoosh!
She compensated using the hammer’s centrifugal force. Spinning her body, lengthening her grip, she slashed at the Iron-Armored Bee.
Crack!
She caught it, but her landing was clumsy. Yet like a roly-poly, Lee Minji bounced up and thrust her hammer at the bee diving from above.
Thwack!
Chae Mujin had shattered her fixed notion that thrusts require a sharp point.
Blunt is enough. With mass and speed behind it, it becomes a formidable attack.
With the pulling motion’s rotation, the last Iron-Armored Bee burst. Chae Mujin, who had been recording the entire thing, ended the video.
The footage was just 17 seconds long. Twelve Level 100 Iron-Armored Bees dispatched in a mere 17 seconds.
If this video were uploaded to NewTube, it would be buried under mountains of hate comments.
Obviously fake AI footage, they’d say. Defeating flying monsters this quickly and precisely, alone, while a Hunter who hasn’t even reached Level 100? No one in the world would believe it.
“Good work.”
“…Sir.”
Lee Minji, who had just slaughtered Level 100 monsters, dropped her hammer to the ground and spoke despondently.
“I’ve figured something out.”
“If you say so, make some ramen?”
“That’s not it. Sir, I think I have no talent as a Hunter. What’s the point of catching hundreds of Iron-Armored Bees? I can’t even swing my hammer properly in front of the Magical Girl—I just get beaten.”
“Hmm.”
“You should deny it! Why are you thinking about it?! So I really do have no talent!”
Chae Mujin could fully understand Lee Minji’s feelings. Even now, two weeks in, she still hadn’t laid a finger on the Magical Girl.
In fact, her record against him was still a perfect loss.
With her self-esteem in the gutter, one small nudge would send Lee Minji into tears.
‘She’s finally reached it.’
And this moment was exactly what Chae Mujin had intended and been waiting for.
“Get in the car, Minji. There’s somewhere we need to go.”
“Okay…….”
Exhausted, Lee Minji no longer even asked where. She climbed into the back seat as ordered and slouched.
When they arrived, it was her home. After two full weeks, Lee Minji couldn’t quite believe she was back.
“Sir…….”
“You’re home. Wash up and sleep. I won’t wake you in the morning this time.”
“Understood…….”
Lee Minji believed Chae Mujin had given up on her. How could she defeat Bahamut if she couldn’t even beat the Magical Girl?
Despondent and following his instructions, she bathed and slept. After two weeks without proper washing or rest, the moment her head hit the pillow she collapsed into sleep—
Chae Mujin alone headed toward the Desolate Field where the Magical Girl waited.
“Magical Girl.”
No answer. He offered barley he’d prepared beforehand, but there was no reaction.
Taking a deep breath, Chae Mujin recalled his past life. In his past life, the Magical Girl had detonated herself, fully conscious.
And at that time, the true name she had revealed to him.
Looking back, it was strange. Had she foreseen that he would regress and told him her name for that reason, or was it mere caprice?
“Lije.”
That name broke the silence of the field.
Five-colored light flashed across the Magical Girl’s murky eyes like fractures. As if awakening from millennia of slumber, an ancient statue, she turned her head very slowly.
“Lije…….”
“Yes. That’s your name.”
“You are…….”
“Chae Mujin.”
The Magical Girl’s voice and Lije’s voice were completely different. If the Magical Girl was cheerful and girlish, Lije’s voice was elegant and refined.
Same appearance, but wholly different people.
Lije regarded the Desolate Field for a moment, then spoke.
“How did you come to know a name even I had forgotten?”
“The future version of you told me.”
“I see. So I failed again.”
Even hearing the word “future,” Lije seemed unmoved. No assertions of impossibility, no demands for proof. None of that.
The Magical Girl was a being who had experienced everything deemed impossible.
That’s why she didn’t doubt Chae Mujin’s claim to have come from the future, and why she could foresee her own fate.
“Your self-destruction will result in hundreds of thousands of deaths, and the nation’s economy and foundations will be shaken.”
“Hundreds of thousands…….”
“I know you cannot take your own life. So I will kill you.”
He announces murder to the very person involved. Lije’s expression grew sad, but it was directed at Chae Mujin.
“You’ve taken on quite the burden.”
“Would you grant me one request?”
“Of course. I’d like to help however I can.”
“The Hunter Association will soon try to send you to a region called Gangwon Province. When that happens, I ask that you refuse. You must not leave Seoul.”
“…Is that all? You don’t want to know my weaknesses, or what power I possess?”
The very person slated to be killed offers to reveal her own weaknesses.
But Chae Mujin firmly declined. This was not a snap decision but a conviction held long beforehand.
“No matter how human you pretend to be, fundamentally you are a Named-Rank Boss Monster. So we will slay you by our methods.”
A cruel declaration that he won’t treat her as human. Yet Lije could discern from those very words what kind of person Chae Mujin was.
“You’re a kind person, Chae Mujin.”
“…….”
“The future me didn’t tell you my name because just anyone would do. She told you because it was you.”
“I cannot say for certain.”
“That’s fine. I know it. I know that you’re a kind person, Chae Mujin.”
Lije suddenly took Chae Mujin’s hand in both of hers. Puzzled, he looked at her face and saw her smiling gently.
“It’s a gift for a good boy.”
Before he could ask what, Lije vanished. Opening his empty hand, there lay a crude key.
「Relic—Dimension Key of Märchen Lije」
•This is the key to her dimensional vault as the princess and queen of Märchen Kingdom. You may open the vault anytime, anywhere, but only once.
“……!”
Chae Mujin was greatly taken aback by the unexpected gift.
Asking a Named-Rank Boss Monster for a favor was already a huge gamble, yet to receive a Relic item outright.
A shiver ran through him. As the princess and queen of a nation, she surely possessed S-Rank equipment, and there was a very high likelihood of EX-Rank items as well.
“I will not refuse a gift.”
Chae Mujin immediately inserted the key into empty air and turned it.
Click-click-click-click.
With the sound of gears interlocking, a massive golden fracture appeared in the empty space.

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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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