Every person in the hideout rushed at Yusin. Provisional licenses, certified rank 5s, and certified rank 4s. Their skills varied, but they were all players with healing-type abilities. While healers had poor combat skills, they could still shroud their bodies in mana for a brawl. With their recovery abilities, if you couldn't take them down in one hit, they'd get right back up. And if they had hunting devices, they were even tougher.

"Die!"

'Whoooosh!'

Yusin calmly watched the thug's fist lumber toward him. The man was huge, but his movements were ridiculously slow, his thick hands telegraphing the attack. As the punch drifted in like it was in slow motion, Yusin deflected the man's wrist with an open palm and swept his leg out in the same fluid movement.

"Ugh!"

The large man's body was unceremoniously thrown aside.

'Time for a warm-up.'

In a continuous motion, Yusin spun and delivered a roundhouse kick to the face of a man charging from the side. With a dull thud, the man went flying, spitting blood. Yusin then grabbed the hair of the first thug, who was trying to get up.

"What the—!"

'Crunch.' He drove his knee straight up, and the man's eyes rolled back in his head. Letting go, Yusin caught the fist of another man swinging from the side. He pulled him in and slammed his right elbow into him. 'Crack!'

"Gyaaaaaah!"

Stomping on the downed member who was clutching his grotesquely bent arm, Yusin turned to face an opponent rushing from behind.

"You son of a bitch!"

'Whoosh! Whoosh!' Fists imbued with magic power swung fiercely, but Yusin parried them lightly with one hand. The moment the agitated man tried to focus all his magic power into a single punch. 'CRACK!' His head snapped back, blood spraying before he even knew what hit him. Yusin, who had already extended a leg, brought his foot down and closed the distance in a flash. 'CRUNCH!'

A straight punch followed. The man's face seemed to turn to pulp as he was sent flying.

-Tower Master! To your right! Ea's voice echoed in his mind.

'WHOOSH!'

Dodging a sashimi knife swinging from his right, Yusin slipped inside the man's reach and jammed his thumb into his eye.

"Gaaaaah!"

-Behind you!

Ducking his head to avoid a punch, Yusin lightly placed his gauntlet-clad right hand on the thug's lower back. Then, after gauging the distance to the pillar behind him, he manually activated his magic.

<Gauntlet>

'BOOM!'

The explosive force erupted, sending the thug's body flying into the pillar. In the brief moment it took for the man to rebound from the impact and fall back toward him, Yusin's right hand was already swirling with blue mana again. This was the remade Gauntlet, redesigned based on Anton's advice to be equipped instantly from above, rather than having to slide his hand into it.

"W-Wait…!"

'CRASH!' The thug's body bent at an unnatural angle as it flew backward and slammed into another pillar. All of this had happened in a matter of seconds.

This time, he deftly sidestepped the unconscious man and planted his foot on the Leap Boots magic circle that Ea had prepared. 'Vwoosh!' Yusin shot through the air, escaping the tight formation of union members swarming me from all sides. He spun in mid-air and delivered a flying kick to a man still standing his ground.

"Kegh!"

Yusin landed with both feet on his face and gestured to the rest of them. "Come on. Don't even think about walking out of here in one piece."

"That little gnat…!"

"Move!" A healer at the front charged forward, brandishing a sword-shaped hunting device.

<Shield>

Just as he swung, Yusin deployed a shield on his descending elbow. The impact stopped his swing cold. He dropped his sword, and Yusin landed a straight punch to his face.

-Tower Master! They're coming from behind!

Yusin threw up a shield first, then spun around quickly. A hunting device bounced off it in a shower of sparks.

"Son of a bitch!"

The union member tried to flank me, but a shield materialized with a dull thump in every direction he moved. He gritted his teeth and ran faster, but…

"Moron."

Yusin simply dismissed the shield between us and kicked him squarely in the chest. He collapsed with a choked gasp.

'A decent warm-up.'

This time, Yusin took the initiative, launching himself into the heart of the swarming enemy ranks. Through his Deva's Eye, the weapons and fists flying at him from all directions seemed to crawl through the air in slow motion. One down with a flying kick. Another with a straight punch. Yusin deployed shields to his left and right to block their encirclement, then closed the distance on an enemy in front of him, snapping his chin up and shattering his limbs.

The Deva's Eye. The Predictive Evasion trait. And overwhelming mana control.

A mage's physical prowess was nothing to scoff at. In a world where mana was power, where it was mass, Yusin's body—charged with an obscene amount of it—was a weapon in itself. There was no way these healers, who'd neglected practical combat to rely solely on their innate healing abilities from the back lines, could ever be a match for him.

'Thwack! Crack! Thud! Crunch!'

With every move Yusin made, the union members coughed up blood, their bones breaking as they were sent flying.

'…Yusin!'

Bora watched him fight, her heart pounding frantically in her chest.

"Ah, damn it! What is this, a movie?!"

"Stop getting picked off! Group up and attack him all at once!"

As the members swarmed to one side, Yusin smirked and raised his arms above his head. "By all means, group up. It makes things easier for me."

<Copy Magical Position>

<Fire Cannon> ×20

'Fwoooooosh!'

Countless fireballs blazed into existence and shot forward. Explosions erupted in all directions, and acrid smoke flooded the entire building.

"Uwaaah!"

"I-It's a pyromancer! Get back!"

Yusin pinpointed the members' locations within the smoke, drew another Ice Javelin, and took careful aim.

'This is different from before.'

Whether it was Fire Cannon or Ice Javelin, every spell in his arsenal had been improved with Anton's advice. Each one had been enhanced to a level that was practically a complete remake. Anton called himself a teacher, but he never taught Yusin any new magic. Instead, he only offered advice on the spells Yusin already possessed and on the style he already had. On the rare occasions when Anton saw Yusin copying his magic, he would become genuinely furious.

'If you live your life copying other people's magic, you'll never be anything more than second-rate!'

'If you have that kind of trashy mindset, throw it away right now! Stop worrying about what others are doing and train what you have to its absolute limit!'

Anton had maintained a clear, unwavering direction in his teaching.

<Ice Javelin>

The spears of frost, hidden within the smoke, shot out like torpedoes, ruthlessly impaling the fleeing members in their arms, thighs, backs, and abdomens. The spears froze solid within their wounds, completely paralyzing parts of their bodies. The healers writhed in agony, trying desperately to use their healing abilities, but they couldn't cast anything until the ice was melted and removed.

"This isn't working! Grab the woman!"

"Secure the hostage!"

Several members broke off and ran toward Bora. Using his Deva's Eye, Yusin located her position instantly and extended his arm.

'Fwip! Fwip!'

Eunsol's new golemballs shot from his sleeves. They slapped against the concrete walls around Bora, then began to form, using the concrete from the pillars and walls as raw material.

"A-A monster?"

'Craaack!'

The members rushing toward Bora were sent flying, spewing blood from a single punch thrown by the newly formed concrete golem.

'Ea. Take control of the golem and get Bora out of here.'

-As the Tower Master commands.

The concrete golem lifted Bora, chair and all, and ran for the exit. Yusin remained hidden in the smoke, intercepting anyone who tried to chase after her.

It was over quickly. All twenty-plus members of the Healer's Union were either unconscious or writhing on the floor in pain.

'Now, all that's left is…'

Yusin turned his head. While he was busy fighting, the Healer's Union Chairman had been buying time by sacrificing his lackeys. He was now taking syringes from his bag and injecting them into his own body.

"Kim Yusin," he said, skillfully plunging another syringe into the base of his neck. He smiled faintly. "The common consensus was that you were a rookie who stumbled into a rank-4 license by sheer luck. If anything, you've been severely underestimated."

Yusin rubbed his shoulder as he approached the man. "You had nothing better to do than mess with my people? Are you ready to die?"

"Muahaha. Sorry, but I have no intention of dying just yet." 'Pfft!' The needle popped out of his neck. He took a deep breath, as if high on drugs. "Unlike the rumors about you, the public's opinion of healers is quite accurate. They're people who stumbled upon the good fortune of a healing-type unique ability, leeching off parties to build their records without any real combat skills. Even as the chairman, I can't say they're wrong."

'Crrrack! Creak!'

The shirt he was wearing ripped apart as unnaturally developed muscles bulged, bursting from his frame.

"But there are always exceptions," he snarled. The once slender Bonggyu now had the monstrously broad torso of a beast. "A rank-7 dungeon, the kind that certified rank-3s enter, is a place where even a healer will have their head lopped off in seconds if they can't protect themselves. That is the domain of demons who have abandoned their humanity."

"…Is that a drug with monster components?"

"Precisely. A rapid enhancer. It allows one to exert several times their usual strength, but it leads to an agonizing death from cellular mutation. However…"

'Fwhooosh!'

In the blink of an eye, Yusin was behind him, his leg snapping up in a lightning-fast kick.

'Thwack!'

"…!"

Without even turning around, Bonggyu snatched his ankle. "I'm a little different."

He threw a punch with his other fist.

Ea and Yusin deployed a shield in front of him in perfect synchronization.

'BAM!'

The impact sent Yusin flying several meters, shattering a thin pillar before he finally skidded to a stop. A fierce roar echoed through the abandoned building as shards of the shield scattered like glass.

"Cough! Keuk!"

Yusin spat out blood from within the rising cloud of dust.

'…You call that a simple punch?'

To Yusin, Bonggyu's body had become truly monstrous. It wasn't strength gained through normal means, but his ability, 'Rapid Growth,' was one of the rarer types among healing abilities. He must have used the drug because he was confident he could survive it.

'So even if healers are support-focused, a certified rank-3 has a trump card up his sleeve.'

The monster lowered its stance and began to charge forward. Still sitting on the floor, Yusin extended his right arm. Even as he was hit, as he was sent flying, as he lay on the ground, the formulas in his head never stopped flowing.

<Fire Cannon>

From the magic circle that unfolded around Yusin, fireballs shot out in a straight line. Bonggyu didn't dodge or block—he just charged ahead. The Fire Cannons slammed into his body, causing a series of explosions, but he only faltered for a moment before charging again.

<Ice Javelin>

Through the thick smoke, Yusin launched an ice spear—a surefire blow against a healer. It struck his enemy successively in the chest and thigh, freezing on impact, but he didn't slow down. The spears embedded in his body were pushed out as the flesh regenerated from within. It was a power closer to a monster's super-regeneration than any healing ability. Like a human tank, he broke through the fire and ice with his body. An Earth Claymore rose in front of Yusin, forming a defensive wall, but…

'BAM!'

It was shattered with a single punch. Bonggyu then swung his arm at Yusin, still sitting on the ground.

'Splat!'

Yusin's head exploded, its remains flying up to the ceiling.

'Hmm…!'

His headless body rippled like liquid before dissolving into a pool of water. At the same time, his foot flew through the smoke behind Bonggyu and connected solidly with his cheek.

<Devastar>

A black wave erupted, sending his massive body flying, shattering several concrete pillars along the way.

"Different? What's so different?" Yusin held a perfect kicking stance in mid-air and smirked confidently.

* * *

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