TL: FoodieMonster007
Whooooosh~
On the rooftop of the Azure Dragon Academy's student dormitory, where the cold night wind blew, three mysterious figures wearing masks and black robes appeared. They were none other than three of the Four Heavenly Kings.
"Looks like everyone's here," a masked man with a slender build and a spear slung diagonally across his back said. He was the one who had introduced himself to Hyonwon Kang as the Supreme Demon Spear, and definitely not Ak Yeonho.
"Supreme Demon Spear... What are you plotting, calling us out like this?" a man holding a staff in each hand asked, glaring suspiciously at the Supreme Demon Spear.
"No need to be so wary, Infernal King of Annihilation," the Supreme Demon Spear chuckled, then turned to his right. "You too, Primeval Witch. I can sense your nervousness."
"Ugh..." The Primeval Witch, the only woman among the Four Heavenly Kings, squirmed uncomfortably. Unlike the thick-skinned men, she wasn't used to this kind of role-playing.
Jaegal Soyeong, behind the mask of the Primeval Witch, muttered timidly, "Do we really have to go this far among ourselves? Can't we just talk like we usually do?"
"Ahem! You are the Primeval Witch, an unorthodox sect master who infiltrated the Azure Dragon Academy to crush the prodigies of the orthodox sects! Have you forgotten that?" the Supreme Demon Spear scolded.
"Well, that's the setting, but..."
"Grr! Primeval Witch! You must take the mission seriously!" the Infernal King of Annihilation added sternly.
"Sigh, fine..." Under the pressure of the two overgrown boys immersed in their theatrics, the Primeval Witch finally gave in.
The Infernal King of Annihilation clasped his hands behind his back, glaring sharply at the Supreme Demon Spear. "Supreme Demon Spear, you still haven't told us why you called us here. If you've wasted my time on something trivial, you won't see tomorrow's sunrise."
"...The reason I summoned you is to discuss the Cold-Blooded Asura Demon King."
"The Cold-Blooded Asura Demon King?"
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"Oh, come to think of it, he's the only one not here," Jaegal Soyeong said airily.
Seeing Jaegal Soyeong break character again, the Supreme Demon Spear and the Infernal King of Annihilation frowned simultaneously.
""Primeval Witch!""
"Y-Yes! I mean, understood! I see! That's right! Bwahahaha!"
""......""
Since Jaegal Soyeong was doing her best in her own way, the two men didn't say anything further.
Clearing his throat, the Supreme Demon Spear continued, "Anyway, the reason I called you guys here is because of the Cold-Blooded Asura Demon King. To be honest, I only managed to catch one of the fledgling brats who ran away. How many did you catch?"
"I only got one too..." the Primeval Witch replied.
"Infernal King of Annihilation, what about you?"
"...I also only caught one. Slippery little bastards. Grr!"
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"Things are more serious than I thought," the Supreme Demon Spear murmured, narrowing his eyes. "There are a little over ten of those orthodox sect brats in this class, yet we've each caught only one. Where are the rest? Are they hiding so well that we can't find them?"
Realizing something, the Infernal King of Annihilation widened his eyes. "Don't tell me..."
The Supreme Demon Spear nodded gravely. "It's exactly as you feared. The Cold-Blooded Asura Demon King is wiping out all of the prey. As far as I know, he's already taken five name tags by himself."
"What? That greedy bastard! Does he have no sense of fair play? Trying to take everything for himself!"
"He's incredibly fast... Is it because he's more familiar with the academy's layout than we are...?"
"Perhaps. Fortunately, though, the ones he caught are all small fry."
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Although the Cold-Blooded Asura Demon King had collected the most name tags so far, Baek Suryong had assigned different point values to each name tag, and the ones he'd taken belonged to low-value, insignificant cannon fodder. On the other hand, the other three Heavenly Kings had managed to snag the high-value name tags of Hyonwon Kang, Yeo Min, and Ya Suhyeok.
"That means victory is not yet out of our grasp," the Supreme Demon Spear added, looking around at his fellow Heavenly Kings. "How about we join forces? I'm sure you've realized by now that unless we work together to keep the Cold-Blooded Asura Demon King in check, none of us stand a chance in hell of getting that reward."
At the word 'reward', the eyes of the Infernal King of Annihilation and the Primeval Witch wavered. Baek Suryong had promised a reward to the person who collected the most name tags in this exam, and all four Heavenly Kings desired it.
"If we do that, how will we split the reward?" the Infernal King of Annihilation asked.
Bursting out from a side alley, Ya Suhyeok tackled the Infernal King of Annihilation like a giant black bear.
"What the...?!" the Infernal King of Annihilation cried out in shock.
Unfortunately for him, Ya Suhyeok's attack was just the beginning. Yeo Min, who was hiding behind Ya Suhyeok's large frame, threw hidden weapons imbued with cold energy from the sides.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Pushing Ya Suhyeok away, the Infernal King of Annihilation frantically deflected the hidden weapons with his staff.
At that moment, Hyonwon Kang charged from behind, yelling, "Haaaap!"
Recovering his wits, the Infernal King of Annihilation bent backward to dodge the blade, then used his twin staffs to push himself off the ground and retreat far back.
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Hyonwon Kang clicked his tongue in regret. "Tsk, I thought we could finish it in one go. What a shame."
"What the hell? It's you punks! But weren't you eliminated earlier..." Myeong Il'oh blurted, before realizing his mistake. He was currently the great dark lord of the unorthodox sects, the Infernal King of Annihilation.
Instantly, he changed his tone, barking, "Grr! You vermin! If you escaped from prison, you should have gone home quietly. That way, you would have kept your lives..."
"AHHH! I can't stand it anymore! Guys, let's put an end to this cringey acting!"
Together, Hyonwon Kang, Yeo Min, and Ya Suhyeok surrounded the Infernal King of Annihilation and attacked with all their might.
"Let's go with Beating Up Baek Suryong Formation Number Eighteen!" Hyonwon Kang shouted.
At this moment, the countless times they had fought against Baek Suryong paid off.
"Whoa! You brats, playing dirty!" the Infernal King of Annihilation screamed, flustered by the flawless teamwork from the three students, who fought like they had been training together for years.
The outcome was decided quickly.
RIIIIIP!
Myeong Il'oh, his mask torn off, collapsed to the ground. Returning to his identity as an Azure Dragon Academy instructor, he wailed, "Isn't this against the rules? You guys lost your name tags earlier!"
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"Since we escaped from jail, we can participate again."
"Who says so?"
"I do."
"Ha! What can I say? You're definitely Suryong-hyung's student..." Myeong Il'oh sighed, looking at the students exasperatedly.
"Fufufu... I knew this would happen!" a familiar voice suddenly said from above.
All four of them looked up at once. Silhouetted against the moon, the Supreme Demon Spear gazed down at them from atop a nearby building.
Myeong Il'oh shouted angrily, "Ak Yeonho, you bastard! If you're here, you should have helped me! Were you just watching? And you call yourself an ally!"
The Supreme Demon Spear narrowed his eyes. "Don't talk to me about the alliance. Did you think I wouldn't know you had your own schemes?"
"W-When did I..."
"And I am not Ak Yeonho but the Supreme Demon Spear. The corpse should stop breaking character and stay quiet."
"...Ugh!"
After silencing Myeong Il'oh, the Supreme Demon Spear turned to face the three tense students. Smiling slyly, he sneered, "Not bad, defeating one of the Four Heavenly Kings, the Infernal King of Annihilation. Unfortunately for you, he's the weakest among us."
"What did you just say, you son of a bitch!" Myeong Il'oh spat.
SWOOSH!
The Supreme Demon Spear leaped down from the building, somersaulting through the air before landing smoothly on the ground. Then, pointing his spear at the students, he laughed coldly, "Three of you... Just right for a warm-up."
A vortex began to swirl around his spear.
"The real fight starts now."