The Academy’s Time Stop Player

"The magic felt faint but familiar."

It was Philaten speaking.

After Hajoon had struck his opponent, Philaten opened her mouth with a tone of suspicion.

"Be careful. If my guess is right, that guy manipulates space. You might not be able to kill him."

"I have to try."

With those words, Hajoon disappeared.

At the same moment, reaching the flying foe, Hajoon swung his hammer again.

Whoosh! Thwack!!

"Argh!"

The opponent's body flew straight, sweeping through trees.

As he vomited blood and tried to heal the hole in his body, Hajoon approached faster and began to puncture his body again.

Thwack! Boom! Thwack! Boom!

The sheer force of the impact penetrated his body.

Despite the disappearance of half his face, an arm, a leg, a thigh, and his belly, his body's regeneration didn't cease.

"Arghh!!"

However, seeing him groan, it seemed he was in complete pain.

Hajoon kept pressing on.

If the enemy kept regenerating, he would just grind his body to dust.

"You brat!"

Just then, the beaten enemy, who had been crashing into trees, began to act.

As soon as he regenerated his torn arm, he immediately cast a spell.

A small wormhole appeared in his hand and he threw it towards Hajoon.

The wormhole, growing in size as it flew towards Hajoon, began to suck everything around it.

Hajoon activated Time Stop (SSS) to escape the wormhole's range.

Then, Hajoon's hammer headed straight for the enemy's abdomen.

Thwack!

"Urgh!!"

Whoosh! Thump! Thump! Thump!

The opponent's body swept through the surrounding trees again, flying in one direction.

Crash!

His body, flying straight, crashed into a giant rock in the forest. Grinding his teeth in anger, he began to tremble with fury.

Breaking free from the rock, the opponent flew towards Hajoon again.

And as he flew towards Hajoon, he thought.

'Again.'

The déjà vu he felt before the impact hit his body.

Something beyond magic or superhuman abilities existed within the boy.

One thing was certain: the moment the boy exerted his energy, he couldn't react to it.

'This monstrous kid…'

Magical energy gathered in the opponent's hands.

He approached Hajoon again, planning to recreate the earlier spatial phenomenon.

The moment he got close to Hajoon, he slammed the gathered energy onto the ground, and a dark red circular space began to engulf both Hajoon and the opponent.

But that was momentary.

Crackle- Bang!!

The space fractured, and black shards scattered in all directions, vanishing.

At that moment, the opponent's eyes widened and started to shake.

The space he had created collapsed into pieces, unable to withstand some energy.

"Damn it... Urgh!"

Thwack!

Simultaneously, another incapacitating shock was delivered.

As the opponent's body flew into the distance, Hajoon, who had caught up from behind, swung his hammer down again.

Thwack!! Whoosh!! Thwack!!

What followed was a continuation of the same.

The opponent, unable to fly far away, circled around one spot.

When he seemed to fly in one direction, a force hit him from the opposite direction.

Hajoon finally slammed him into the ground.

Thump!!

Then, a series of rapid strikes followed, raising a cloud of dust around.

A pit formed at the center of the opponent, gradually burying him deeper.

Hajoon kept swinging his hammer until the opponent's body vanished without a trace.

Kukukukung!!

And when he had struck enough,

Hajoon slung his hammer over his shoulder and stepped back, jumping out of the pit to observe its center.

And through the rising dust, the opponent shot up into the sky.

His condition seemed fine. Having already regenerated, he brushed the dirt off his body and looked down at Hajoon leisurely.

"So it is."

The opponent spoke.

As if realizing something, he continued speaking while looking down at Hajoon.

"Having experienced your strength firsthand, I understand now. In the past, I would have died about 20 times."

Magical power surged from the opponent's body.

As he stretched his hand towards the sky, a giant black hole appeared, engulfing the surroundings.

"One thing is clear. You cannot kill me."

"......"

Indeed, as the opponent said, Hajoon couldn't kill him.

He thought it would be possible to grind him to dust to a point where he couldn't regenerate, but his regenerative powers exceeded his imagination.

"Kid, you are in danger now. I must ensure you're dead."

"That's not going to happen."

"?!"

At that moment, a white thread cut through the opponent's wrist.

His wrist was severed, and the black hole that had formed in the air vanished in an instant.

Simultaneously, a brilliant light descended rapidly from the sky towards the opponent.

The brilliant light pierced through him and fell to the ground, and at that moment, a giant fist appeared out of thin air, starting to slam down on him.

Kukukung!!

Sword King Han Junho, the King's Champion Helen Belhar, and Giant Adrian had joined the fight.

Hajoon was also about to move to join them.

That's when someone with a familiar voice called Hajoon from behind.

"Student Hajoon."

"Principal?"

Hajoon turned his head to look at Choi Jungwon approaching him.

He began to approach Hajoon slowly, supporting himself with a cane.

Eventually, he seemed to lose strength in his legs and collapsed to the ground.

Hajoon moved closer to him.

Kneeling on one knee to meet his eye level, he spoke.

"You should be resting."

Hajoon's brows narrowed.

At a glance, Choi Jungwon's condition was dire.

It was the cost of forcibly using life force and magic power.

As Hajoon looked at Choi Jungwon with concern, he lifted his head to look back at Hajoon.

His expression was a gentle smile.

"Student Hajoon."

Choi Jungwon reached out to the blue crystal on his cane.

As the vine wrapping around the crystal unraveled, Choi Jungwon, holding it in his hand, began to extend it towards Hajoon.

"You said to trust yourself."

He said, gasping for breath.

Already at his limit, he extended a trembling hand, and the moment the crystal touched Hajoon's chest, a blue energy flowed from the crystal into Hajoon's body.

Hajoon's expression stiffened in surprise, realizing what he had done.

The moment the blue energy seeped into Hajoon's body.

Mana: 0

Ding-

Mana: 700 (+700)

His mana surged abruptly.

"Student Hajoon."

He called Hajoon with a gentle expression.

Already at his limit, Choi Jungwon's body gradually began to lose strength.

His eyes slowly started to close, and with his eyelids halfway shut, he looked at Hajoon for the last time and continued.

"I trust you."

"......"

"So......"

He said with a peaceful smile.

"I'll leave it to you."

"......"

With those words, Choi Jungwon's voice was no longer heard.

Hajoon laid him down in a safe place and stood up.

Looking at Choi Jungwon, who appeared to be peacefully asleep, Hajoon said,

"Just wait a little longer."

Hajoon picked up his hammer again.

Turning towards the direction where the battle was raging, he said,

"It will be over soon."

With those words, Hajoon channeled the new energy, the mana, into Maharazu.

At that moment.

Hajoon's eyes widened.

The moment he infused mana into Maharazu.

Multiple hallucinatory voices echoed in Hajoon's ears.

-A weapon for the warrior!

A deep, sonorous hallucination.

It soon turned into a chorus of multiple voices calling out.

-A hammer for the great warrior!

-Strength for the warrior!

-Strength for our king!

As the voices continued to echo, the mana poured into Maharazu began to flicker with a golden light.

The golden hammer Maharazu shone brighter than ever, illuminating the dark night sky, even more radiant than the moonlight.

At that moment.

-Aaahhhhh...!

Philaten let out a cry of ecstasy.

This power, this energy, this mana.

It was a familiar sensation to her.

The most destructive power in a world where everything is broken.

The power of obliteration.

It meant one thing.

-A new king has been born...!

"That guy's persistent."

It was Adrian speaking.

His body was covered with scars, and he had a severe wound in his abdomen, bleeding profusely.

The same was true for the other two heroes currently confronting the opponent.

They were better off than himself, but if the standoff continued, they were sure to fall first.

At that moment, the figures of Sword King Han Junho and Helen Belhar flew towards Adrian.

Adrian immediately enlarged his hands to catch them, while the opponent, Saan, moved towards them with a relaxed step.

"Let's finish this now."

Goooooo!

An ominous black and purple magic power erupted from his body.

He extended his hand towards the three great heroes, and a huge magic spell, unlike any seen before, materialized on the ground where the three were standing.

Judging the magic cast by Saan to be dangerous, each hero gathered their mana to prepare against the massive spell.

Then, it happened.

From behind them, a brilliant golden light illuminated the surroundings.

"?!"

"What is that...?"

Their astonishment was brief as Hajoon, the source of the light, approached them.

A faint golden aura flickered around his body, and an alien magical energy flowed from the hammer he held, rising into the air.

Hajoon approached the three great heroes and said,

"Now, rest."

He then turned to Saan and declared,

"I'll handle this."

With those words, Hajoon slammed Maharazu onto the ground.

The moment he did, Saan's giant magic spell shattered into pieces, and a destructive phenomenon occurred that altered the terrain. The ground flipped, the earth's crust shook, and golden mana surged from the cracks.

Kukukukung!!

It was the effect of a single swing.

"?!"

Saan's eyes widened in shock.

An unknown power and mana.

A dangerous alarm, unlike anything he had ever felt before, began to ring in his head.

The moment he felt threatened and tried to distance himself, Hajoon activated Time Stop.

Reaching Saan in an instant, Hajoon swung his hammer at him.

Whoosh! Pakang!!

Just one swing.

The moment Hajoon's hammer touched Saan's arm, cracks appeared, and golden light burst through, shattering his arm into pieces.

Everything touched by the hammer was being 'obliterated'.

Kukung! Bang!!

Sensing danger, Saan immediately tried to regenerate his arm.

But it did not regenerate.

It was as if the arm's composition had never existed, preventing regeneration.

"What are you...?"

Saan looked at Hajoon in shock.

But before that, he wrapped a barrier around his entire body.

At the same time, he opened a gate inside the barrier to escape.

He had to flee.

He was certain that confronting Hajoon would lead to his death.

Kachang!!

Just then, the barrier surrounding Saan shattered.

However, Saan's body had already escaped through the gate.

As Saan, who had escaped into a dimensional space, was about to close the gate,

Pajik- Pakang!!

Right before the gate fully closed,

Cracks appeared in the gate, shattering it into pieces.

A giant hole formed in the dimensional space created by Saan, and Hajoon leaned forward towards the massive hole, extending his hand towards Saan.

"Where do you think you're running off to?"

Hajoon revealed his white teeth, curling his lips into a rough smile.

His intimidating, sparkling eyes glared at the opponent.

He then grabbed the opponent by the scruff and pulled him out, declaring,

"We need to see this through to the end."