Chapter 93

I became a mafia in the academy Chapter 93

"──I found you."

I ran towards the guy who was still focused on the screen and punched him straight in the face.

"Huh? What the hell!"

He quickly grabbed his pickaxe as if sensing the danger and blocked my punch.

"How... how did you...!"

"It's simple, I came in the elevator."

I sneered at his flustered expression and released the aura gathered in my fist, sending him flying backward from the recoil.

"How can there be an elevator in a dungeon...!"

The miner, whose first ambush didn't work, frowned and shouted.

Jinwoo chuckled at the sight.

"An elevator in a dungeon? Why not? It's the modern era. What's so surprising? Hehe."

"That damn brat...!"

I could somewhat understand why the miner was so angry.

I hadn't expected things to go this smoothly either.

"Don't be too upset. We were just lucky."

What we found on the first floor of the dungeon was a cargo elevator used in the workshop.

While I had thought the dungeon we were in might have similar characteristics or terrain to the one in the workshop, I never imagined that an elevator connecting to the workshop would be implemented here.

'Wow, this is here too. Boss, can we ride it?'

When Jinwoo mentioned the elevator, I was also skeptical.

After all, this had never happened in the game.

'But, does it even work?'

The problem was how to go down even if we found the elevator.

The dungeon's elevator is designed to light up only at the floors that have been cleared.

However.

[D1]

.

…

……

………

[D10]

'Huh? The light is on for the 10th floor? Oh, it's pressed.'

Perhaps because the villains had already occupied the lowest level, the elevator we were in started moving smoothly with a mechanical sound as soon as the 10th floor was pressed.

[Ding.]

[──Basement Level 10.]

When we arrived at the 10th floor, the sight of the miner looking indignant was quite amusing.

"Is this situation supposed to happen just because we were lucky?!"

The miner pointed at us with his pickaxe, clearly shocked by our sudden appearance from the elevator.

Well, I could understand his frustration.

Normally, people would reach the 10th floor only after clearing the upper levels of the dungeon, exhausted.

The villains must have planned and prepared for this.

But what could they do?

This dungeon is practically mine.

"First, you were the ones who tried to illegally enter, and now you're yelling at the owner... How ridiculous."

"What?"

"Initially, you were just a guy with no luck who got caught. Isn't it obvious? And..."

I glanced at the screen he had been watching.

He was monitoring the entire dungeon like that.

From the other screens, it seemed most of the kids were safely progressing through the dungeon under the protection of their instructors.

"Illegal entry and voyeurism. I wonder when the Villain Alliance became a pervert alliance."

"...Watch your mouth, brat."

"You should be the one to watch it."

With a clang, the dagger Jinwoo threw hit the miner's helmet.

"Seriously, how can a helmet be that hard? I threw it with all my strength."

Jinwoo, who had tried to ambush the miner while we were talking, said this with a regretful tone and turned his wrist.

"Such a ridiculous move... Do you think that attack would work on me?"

"Who are you to brag about your rock-hard head? What's with that attitude? What should we do, Boss? I think we can finish him off quickly if we both attack."

Jinwoo, who spoke with confidence, had a different task to do.

"Jinwoo."

"Yep, I'm ready."

"Rather than that... Do you see the hole above the miner?"

"Hole? ...I can see it, but..."

I gave Jinwoo a secret instruction in a low voice.

"When I give the signal, jump up there and help the 9th floor."

"Huh? You don't want me to fight the miner, but to help the 9th floor?"

Jinwoo hesitated and asked, but there was a reason for this.

"Ultimately, to escape this dungeon, we need to clear the 10th floor boss, so it's better to conserve our strength. Help the 9th floor first and then join the other kids here."

"...You're going to face him alone?"

"I can handle it alone."

"If you say so... So, what's the signal?"

It's better to show by action rather than words.

"Now."

I concentrated aura in my lower body and charged at him.

"Damn brat! Did you think I'd fall for that again?!"

The miner raised his pickaxe to block my charge and struck the ground.

The ground shook, and sand smoke rose, making it difficult to pinpoint his location, but this alone was enough to consider the first phase of the plan a success.

"Boss! You must win!"

Thanks to the hole he used to infiltrate the 10th floor, Jinwoo successfully entered it.

If we hadn't been here, he would have gone up to the 9th floor and joined 'Snowgirl Party' to attack the kids, but now that I was on the 10th floor, he wouldn't abandon it and go up.

Most importantly, would a miner run away from a freshman?

"There's no way."

He was definitely not that kind of character.

As the dust slowly settled, the surroundings gradually became visible.

The miner was nowhere to be seen.

But I had already experienced something similar and knew how to handle it.

"Like this?"

I emitted aura from my feet to search the surrounding ground.

The method I learned while clearing the kobold dungeon with Mr. Kwak Chun-sik.

If I hadn't practiced aura control with the bracelet he gave me, I might not have been able to detect the miner's shape hidden in the ground.

"There you are."

A foreign shape felt in the ground.

It seemed he was ready to burst out of the ground and ambush me at any moment.

"I don't really like catching moles, but..."

I jumped towards the spot and punched the ground.

Boom!

The ground exploded, creating a crater due to the aura-filled punch.

"Damn! How... how did you...?!"

Inside the crater, the miner was blocking my punch with his trembling arm, pickaxe raised.

"Curious? There was someone else who was good at finding you. I learned from him."

As I said this, I concentrated aura in my fist, and his expression crumpled.

"Aura user with detection abilities...? No way. Are you a disciple of Kwak Chun-sik?!"

Perhaps because the name of the person who put him in Niflheim was mentioned, his eyes began to flicker with anger.

"If that's the case, what will you do? By the way, even if you beg on your knees, I won't accept your apology."

I taunted him, and he gritted his teeth.

"Brat, you're asking for it...!"

At the same time, a flash of light burst from his headlamp, blinding me.

"I'll turn you into minced meat!"

He thought that by blinding me, he could create an opening.

If it were the old me, it might have been a serious threat.

But.

[「Skill: Aura Sonar」 activated.]

The aura emitted from my body illuminated the surroundings.

The miner was right in front of me, pickaxe raised, about to strike.

I stretched out my arm, grabbed his pickaxe, and headbutted him. A squishy sensation accompanied the sound of a crunch.

"Kyaah!"

Was it his nose?

If so, I should headbutt him again──

"──Get lost!"

With his shout, an intense pain hit my chest, and my breath was cut off. My body flew backward.

"Ugh!"

I reduced the impact with a falling technique and slowly regained my vision, looking in his direction.

"Haah...! Haah...!"

I saw the miner, with blood streaming from his nose, stretching his leg towards me.

"...Iron Boots."

Since digging the ground was his main job, the [Iron Boots] he wore were known to be items he made himself.

They were made by melting 'iron ore,' which is rarely found in dungeons and is extremely difficult to process.

Was it because of these boots?

I managed to avoid serious injury by surrounding my abdomen with aura just before the attack, but if I hadn't, I might have been seriously hurt.

"...I aimed to shatter your body, but you're quite tough."

The miner spat out a clump of blood from his nose and glared at me.

"Just now, was that a kick? I thought it was a mosquito bite or something."

"What? Hahaha!"

He burst into laughter, scratching the spot where he was hit.

"Your expression doesn't look good for someone who just got kicked... Don't you think it's better to just surrender? It'll be less painful."

In response to his offer of a painless death if I surrendered, I showed him my middle finger instead of my head.

"Fix your squished nose and speak properly. You worm."

"...What?"

The miner's expression stiffened at my words.

"Did you just... call me a worm, this miner?"

"Right, that nickname was given by him. Why, do you have PTSD or something?"

It wasn't a pleasant memory for him.

After all, he was probably the only one in this world who had ever been called a worm.

"Mr. Kwak Chun-sik said that the miner should have changed his villain name to 'Worm.' He said, 'What else could you call a guy who only knows how to dig and poop?'"

Well, this was a relatively mild version.

To avoid sounding like a grumpy old man, I omitted the vulgar words, comments about his family environment, and remarks about his parents' health and character... but it was too low-level to come out of my mouth.

So, I could only call him by his nickname.

"Suit you well, Worm. Don't you think your parents would prefer their son to be called a villain worm?"

But even my toned-down taunt seemed quite humiliating, as the miner's body began to tremble.

"Right... a worm... Haha. Hahahaha. But, do you know this?"

He held his pickaxe like a golf club and took a swing stance.

"Kwak Chun-sik. That damn guy couldn't withstand this either!"

With a bang, the pickaxe shattered the rocks, and the fragments began to fly towards me at incredible speed.

Some of them even emitted ominous flames, as if he had coated them with mana.

No, even if that's the case, this is a bit──