The Academy’s Time Stop Player

Hajoon observed the situation for a bit and was now able to understand what was happening. Liam was definitely growing.

'··········Strange?'

However, he couldn't figure out why.

What kind of influence caused Liam to suddenly grow?

Was there something that happened during his time on the artificial island that he didn't know about?

Regardless, Hajoon decided to watch Liam for now.

After observing the situation, it was clear that Liam was growing bit by bit, so he decided not to interfere and just watch.

Although the current situation was unexpected, the growth of a playable character was naturally not a bad situation for Hajoon.

'What could it be··········?'

The Blood Demon looked at Liam with a puzzled expression.

Even as he swung his greatsword at Liam in front of him, he couldn't hide his curiosity.

'How did he block this?'

Whooosh!!!

His greatsword swung quickly, aiming for Liam's neck, arms, legs, and eyes, slashing, thrusting, and slashing down sideways, but Liam deflected the greatsword with his spear without exerting much force, or made large turns with his body to dodge the Blood Demon's greatsword repeatedly.

How could he possibly dodge?

Surely he was just a boy, much weaker than himself.

The Blood Demon was puzzled, but on the contrary, for some reason, his lips began to slowly curl up.

“You're surviving longer than I thought?”

He smiled brightly as if a child had discovered a toy.

Soon after, his greatsword began to accelerate.

Slowly, as if checking how far Liam could block, he gradually increased his speed while swinging his greatsword.

If the brat keeps dodging, all he had to do was to increase his speed so that he couldn't dodge his greatsword.

In the flurry of countless strikes, Liam's eyes moved quickly.

As if he could see the Blood Demon's greatsword, Liam's eyes were precisely watching the Blood Demon's greatsword.

And the ensuing result was surprising.

Clang! Thud!!

“··········Huh?”

The Blood Demon tilted his head 90 degrees and looked at Liam with a puzzled expression.

Jumping back a distance away from Liam, he slowly looked at his left shoulder. The blood trickling drop by drop from the wound inflicted by the spear.

“That's odd··········?”

Yet, his expression remained unchanged.

He was just curious and intrigued.

After all, he didn't feel pain in his body.

“How did he manage to stab my shoulder in that situation?”

Did he find even a tiny gap in the barrage of the greatsword?

The Blood Demon looked at Liam with his wide eyes full of surprise.

However, Liam, who had created that situation, was breathing heavily.

Liam slowly raised his head to look at the Blood Demon.

To be honest, he didn't understand why he suddenly started attacking him and why he was here, but one thing was certain: he had to fend off his attacks with all his might.

His strike was so threatening that even a moment's negligence was not allowed.

'It's certain that he's a villain··········.'

Honestly, it wasn't important who he was right now.

Liam was thinking about how to survive against him.

Speed, strength, and even the grade of the weapon he was holding were all disadvantageous for him.

The only thing he could rely on now was the skill he had learned on the artificial island in the past.

However, facing an opponent who was undoubtedly a step ahead in all aspects··········.

'How did I just do that?'

Even Liam himself didn't understand how he stabbed his shoulder.

Was it that his body just moved naturally?

At that moment, Liam immediately stopped his thoughts and rolled his body sideways in a large leap.

Simultaneously, with a resounding crash, the bastard slowly lifted the greatsword he had swung down. He disappeared in an instant, reaching right in front of Liam's nose.

With merely a look of intrigue in his eyes, he looked at Liam and swung his greatsword downward.

Clang!!

At that moment, Liam once again faced the bastard and elevated his concentration to the limit.

Only then could he barely manage to deflect the bastard's greatsword with his spear, barely avoiding the attack. But his body had already surpassed its limits and was screaming in pain.

At the same time, the Blood Demon continued swinging his greatsword, pressing Liam back with eyes filled with delight.

“You can still move, huh?”

Clang!! Crash!! Thump! Clang!!

Just like before, Liam deflected the bastard's greatsword and counterattacked.

However, he felt a peculiar, heightened sensation and an alertness he couldn't quite explain.

Was this the feeling from before?

As Liam slowly avoided the bastard's greatsword, he drove his spear forward.

His body felt lighter than he could ever imagine, and time seemed to flow slowly.

With a feeling as if his body was floating, the blade of Liam's spear aimed precisely at the Blood Demon's eyes.

But, Liam had reached his limit.

“Urk!!”

“............”

Before the spearhead could reach the Blood Demon's eye, Liam collapsed.

The Blood Demon momentarily stopped swinging his greatsword, looking down at Liam with an indifferent gaze.

The Blood Demon merely looked down at Liam, speaking in a tone devoid of inflection.

“.........Is it over now?”

His expression gradually returned to a blank one, inexplicably taking on a sorrowful look.

The Blood Demon looked at Liam as one would a broken toy.

“How boring..........”

The Blood Demon.

His emotions were absent.

However, strangely enough, in the midst of such a battle, he could faintly feel a few emotions.

And in this case, it was 'joy.'

Unintelligible situations continued to happen in the fight with Liam, and they piqued the Blood Demon's interest.

But now that the toy was broken, even if he tried to figure it out, he couldn't.

Thinking the game was finally over, the Blood Demon slowly lifted his greatsword to strike down at Liam.

That's when it happened.

Thump- Thump-

The sound of footsteps quietly echoing in the hallway.

The Blood Demon's head slowly turned towards the direction of the sound.

Then his head slowly tilted to 90 degrees.

“..........Hmm?”

He looked at the thing approaching him with a puzzled face.

Something whose entire body was hidden under a mosaic.

However, the only thing visible was the golden hammer in one hand, which stood out as it gradually approached, expressing a threatening sentence.

“If that greatsword moves even a little, I'll kill you.”

Kill?

Who... me?

The Blood Demon genuinely wondered.

Hence, he asked,

"··········You?"

To his question, a faceless entity seemed to chuckle, for some reason. His mocking demeanor made the Blood Demon's eyes grow wide in shock.

It was intriguing.

On what conviction did it act like that?

The turn of events induced a different kind of emotion in the Blood Demon.

Sssk-

The corners of the Blood Demon's mouth curled up again.

What would happen if he swung his greatsword?

Was it so confident because it had a surefire way to kill him?

Or would it, like most, just charge at him in rage?

Various reactions of that entity surfaced in the Blood Demon's mind.

And then.

Whooom!!

Without hesitation, the Blood Demon swung his greatsword at Liam.

The consequence of his action quickly manifested.

Boom!!

"Cough!!"

Whooooom!! Bang-!

An overwhelming force hit the Blood Demon's chest, causing him to cough up blood and be launched towards the ceiling.

Bang-!!

With a massive noise, his body smashed into the ceiling, then gradually fell and landed on the floor. The impact continued.

Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud!!!

A dull force, too fast to react to, continuously battered his body, and he began to gradually sink into the ground.

And the impact did not stop.

As if it wouldn't stop until his breath was cut off.

That's why the Blood Demon was momentarily troubled.

Firstly, he didn't feel any pain.

He was innately built that way.

However, he was certain that he would die if things continued like this, so the Blood Demon activated his ability.

The ability that gave him the name of the Blood Demon.

Whoom! Sssss!!!

Gradually, blood seeped from the wounds on his body.

And the seeping blood began to envelop his body and at some point, it turned into sharp spikes, shooting out in all directions. His ability was to control his blood at will, and it was fatal. Even a tiny bit of his blood inside an opponent could ravage their body from within.

But... oddly enough, the attack did not stop.

Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud!!!

"Eh, eh?!”

The Blood Demon, taken aback, flailed his arms around in the middle of the shock.

And from his body, a large amount of blood shot out, forming spikes, but the moment they formed, a great impact shattered them, scattering them around.

This cycle repeated.

The Blood Demon kept creating sharp objects from his blood and launched them at the entity, but the moment they were created, they couldn't hold their shape, got hit by the dull force and disappeared.

"Ah, no! St, stop!!"

Only then did the Blood Demon start to grasp the reality of the situation that was unfolding.

The bewildered Blood Demon's eyes trembled violently.

The shock continued, and the sensation in his hands and legs gradually disappeared.

In that immovable situation, he began to recall an emotion he had only felt once in the past.

The emotion he felt when he was on the verge of death in a battle with the boss.

It was 'fear' of death.

'Ah··········.'

And only now, the Demon understood.

'It was real··········.'

The words that proved he could be killed.

However, when he realized that, it was too late.

Boom――――!!!

Meanwhile.

At a restaurant near Bukhansan.

"Ah... that damned Vampire. As soon as we got to Bukhansan, he ran off somewhere."

An unusual group of people were seated facing each other around a round table.

One of them was a man with a red mohawk, a blonde woman in a neat suit, and a silver-haired girl in a black leather jacket, her long hair and expression impassive.

"I told you we shouldn't have brought him."

The mohawked man spoke.

He looked at the blonde woman with dissatisfaction, and at his words, she just smiled at him.

"But why can't you say that in front of the Blood Demon? Are you scared?"

At that sarcastic remark, the man merely shrugged his shoulders and lightly responded.

"Why should I badmouth him behind his back? And who wants to mess with a lunatic?"

"Heh, but his skills are reliable, right?"

"It's all because of the boss. Without the boss, who could stop him?"

The woman nodded as if she agreed with his words.

She turned her head towards the girl who was still wearing a blank expression, handed her the menu, and spoke.

"Boss, what do you want to eat?"

"..."

The girl just stared blankly at the woman, then looked at the menu.

After a moment, she frowned and handed the menu back to the woman.

"Huh? Why?"

"I don't understand what it says."

"Ah! Right. This is your first time with Korean food, isn't it? Then I'll choose."

"Do as you please."

The girl calmly drank a glass of water, crossed her arms, and closed her eyes.

Just then.

"!?"

Suddenly, the girl's eyes flew open, and her expression began to contort.

Her eyebrows gradually narrowed, and her face began to twist in anger.

"Huh? Boss, what's wrong?"

"What happened?"

The girl slowly rose from her seat.

And looking at the man and woman in front of her, she spoke.

"The Blood Demon has been hit. Get up. We're going to find him."