The Villains I Taught Became Heroes - Chapter 72



71 – End of Chapter 1 – 3

***

“We have to destroy that!!”

Beyond the firmly closed iron gate was Lee Hyun.

He was facing the enemies alone.

Arisha was nearly in a state of panic.

And it was no wonder, as the aura emanating from that man they had seen earlier was anything but weak.

With his subordinates there, could Lee Hyun really handle them all by himself?

Anxiety surged, shaking Arisha to her core.

The bright smile she always wore had vanished, and Rifa barely managed to hold her back as she desperately tried to attack the iron gate.

“How do you plan to break through that gate?!”

“But the teacher!!”

“Wait, Arisha. Calm down. According to the map, there’s a device to open that gate near the processing facility.”

Lumina stopped her after checking the map that Arisha had dropped.

Only then did Arisha calm down, biting her lip as she examined the map Lumina showed her.

This was not the time to hesitate.

“Let’s go quickly!!”

Startled by Arisha’s urgency, the other students simply nodded.

They were equally worried about Lee Hyun, so without waiting for anyone to take the lead, they dashed toward the processing facility.

And there, they could see it.

The large device inside the processing facility and the person standing in front of it.

And the people who were said to be missing.

“Oh. It seems the new offerings for the Undead Generation Device have arrived.”

The man in the black robe spoke softly, slowly removing his hood.

He had a blade-shaped tattoo on his face.

With a grin, he exaggeratedly greeted them before opening his mouth.

“I am from the forces of Chaos, the Fifth Seat…”

“Viket!!”

Before he could finish his sentence, Arisha charged forward.

The man barely dodged the blow infused with power and gritted his teeth.

“How dare you speak so arrogantly and attack! You seem to have no sense of decorum at all!!”

“Where is the decorum in a fight!!”

As Arisha was followed by Ludwig, Richter, and Charlotte launching additional attacks, he gritted his teeth and raised his hand.

At that moment, a large device behind him began to tremble. What emerged were dolls that took on a form like hazy smoke.

“Ghosts!! Those are the ones that have reduced damage from physical attacks! Be careful, as they are vulnerable to magical attacks!!”

Dozens of ghosts appeared, standing as if to guard the man.

Arisha, glaring at them, clenched her fist and shouted.

“Take care of the ghosts! I’ll handle that man!!”

“Are you sure you can manage alone?”

Ludwig, raising his sword, spoke with concern, but Arisha glared at him, baring her white teeth.

“…I’m fine!”

After all, she had learned a lot from Lee Hyun.

“Hahaha! Do you really think someone like you can stand against me?!”

Ignoring the man’s derisive laughter, Arisha extended her fist.

The magical power contained in her strike was by no means insignificant.

Surprised by the unexpectedly strong attack, the man stepped back to evade and drew a dagger from his waist.

As he swung it quickly to attack Arisha, his eyebrows twitched.

– Thud!!

The dagger aimed at her head twisted off course with a mere gesture from Arisha.

A martial art that changes the flow to create openings in the enemy’s defense. It was the Wall-Guarding Technique.

Without blinking, Arisha nullified the man’s attack and took a large step forward.

– Boom!!

A powerful stomp that shook the ground.

Empowered by that, she extended her fist.

‘Each step I take is heavy, and each punch I throw is light. But the end of it must be stronger than anything else.’

She recalled the mantra she learned during her one-on-one training with Lee Hyun, a privilege granted to the team leader.

It was a lesson drilled into her ears when she learned the Arang-kwon from her uncle, the King of Martial Arts.

Yet, for some reason, the image of Lee Hyun when he taught her, and the way he moved, lingered more vividly in Arisha’s mind.

Following the most ideal form of martial arts, Arisha twisted her extended fist halfway.

With the power of rotation infused, she launched a more powerful strike toward the man’s chest, and as he was knocked back by her attack, she quickly twisted her body.

‘Continuous strikes are like water. The flow must be natural and unimpeded.’

When using continuous strikes, she follows the flow of the Wall-Guarding Technique.

The Wall-Guarding Technique is a martial art like water.

Its flow is natural and unimpeded.

Recalling Lee Hyun’s teachings and his movements, she turned her body and struck the man once more with her back.

“Cough!!”

The continuous strikes continued.

Raising her right elbow, she struck the man’s jaw and then took another large step forward.

– KWA-BOOM!!

Using the power gained through the Jin-gak, I extended my hands.

As the magical energy contained in my palms condensed into a force, I watched the man struck by my attack fall to the ground before finally exhaling a breath of relief.

“Haah…”

The man lay on the floor, writhing as if he had taken a serious blow.

Ariasha, gazing at him, glanced around in search of the mechanism to open the iron door.

And then it happened.

“You arrogant little…!!!”

The man, who had been down, began to rise.

I had clearly landed a solid hit, yet he was still moving.

Startled, Ariasha stumbled back, and in that moment, the man, violently spitting blood, began to contort.

“Even if the world survives, know that you won’t…!!”

The Ghost, who had been fighting the students, started to move.

The man’s body, having absorbed the ghosts, began to swell. Lumina, witnessing this, gasped and moved closer to Ariasha.

“What… what on earth is that?”

“I don’t know.”

With a serious expression, Ariasha clenched her fist.

I have no idea what that is.

In fact, I’m not even curious.

What matters is that I need to take that down to go help Lee Hyun.

“It doesn’t matter what it is.”

Extending her clenched fist, Ariasha spoke in a cold tone.

“If it tries to stop me from helping my teacher, I will crush it.”

As her words ended, the man, now a monster, charged toward Ariasha’s party.

.

.

.

The battle was fierce.

The students here were strong enough to hold their own anywhere.

Yet the fight was so intense and dangerous that it could turn them into rags.

However, if we look at the outcome, the battle was a victory for the students.

Ariasha, bleeding from her forehead but refusing to stop looking ahead, extended her fist.

As the magical energy contained in her fist pierced the man’s body, the resilient form began to shatter.

“This can’t be… I, Rodman, like this… Ah… the revival of the Empire…”

Leaving behind his final words, the man’s body crumbled.

Exhaling a weary breath, Ariasha hurried toward the processing facility.

As she pulled the lever there, the sound of the door opening from the direction they had come echoed.

‘We have to go…’

It’s hard. It’s painful. I’m exhausted.

But still, I must go.

Because over there, Lee Hyun is fighting alone.

Because they were blocking them alone for their sake.

I have to help him.

Thinking this, Arisha stumbled and ran towards Ihyun.

“Se, Sensei!!”

In the corner of the room stained with corpses and blood, a man was leaning against the wall.

It was Ihyun.

Seeing him, covered in blood and holding a sword with his head bowed low, Arisha felt her heart drop.

No, right?

It can’t be, right?

“S-Sensei!!! Sensei!!”

As she got closer, she saw that his coat was soaked in blood.

Could he be badly hurt?

Her heart was racing wildly.

Rushing to Ihyun, when Arisha tried to check his condition, his hand moved.

“Ah. I’m fine. I’m not seriously hurt.”

From noble mtl dot com

It was the calm voice she was used to hearing. How could he say he was fine when he was like this, covered in blood?

With tears almost spilling from her eyes, Arisha hugged him tightly.

“S-Sensei….”

“Ah, I’m really fine, okay? This isn’t my blood.”

“Sniff… Huh?”

“More than that, I need to worry about you first. You’ve got a lot of injuries.”

Ihyun used healing magic on Arisha while checking her condition.

Had she gotten torn during the battle? There were parts of her combat uniform ripped, exposing her pale skin.

“This kid. A girl shouldn’t be running around like this.”

Ihyun took off the coat he was wearing.

He lightly shook off the blood-soaked coat and draped it over Arisha’s shoulders, bending slightly at the waist.

“It’s waterproof, so you’ll be fine underneath. Just wear that until we get back to the academy.”

Looking into her eyes with a gentle smile, Ihyun patted Arisha’s head.

“Ha…”

Letting out a light sigh, Ihyun slowly brushed his blood-soaked hair back.

As he revealed his face, Arisha stared at him blankly. When their eyes met, Ihyun smiled brightly.

“Ah…”

“What?”

“Ah, ah, it’s nothing!!”

Realizing that she was blankly staring at Ihyun’s face, Arisha placed her hand over her heart.

It was racing.

Her heart was pounding wildly.

“Instructor!!”

“Are you okay?!”

She could see Ludwig and other students rushing over. Ihyun waved his hand at them and walked leisurely.

—

Watching him from behind, Arisha felt her face flush.

“Hey! I believed in you! I knew you’d be fine as an instructor!”

“Arisha was really worried!”

‘Was I really that worried?’

Arisha stood there, dazed, listening to the students talk.

As they said, Lee Hyun had taken down the enemies without any serious injuries.

Could he have not known that?

No.

She knew that Lee Hyun was strong.

So why had she been so afraid?

But why had she been so scared?

Arisha gazed blankly at Lee Hyun, who was laughing and chatting with the students, and placed her hand on her chest.

It was racing.

Every time she looked at Lee Hyun, every time she was with him, every time she thought of him.

‘Ah.’

She understood.

No, she had known.

“Arisha! Let’s go!”

As Lee Hyun waved his hand with a smile, Arisha hesitated for a moment before running to him as usual.

And, as always, she nestled into his embrace and thought.

‘What is this? So that’s what it was?’

The fluttering intensified.

Holding him tightly, Arisha looked up and smiled brightly.

‘I… I love you, teacher.’

“Master!”

“Ma, Master!”

She heard the shouts of those running toward them. Sowol and Lena.

Lee Hyun’s long-time disciples.

And surely, people who loved Lee Hyun just like she did.

Watching them, Arisha playfully rubbed her face against Lee Hyun’s chest.

“…Arisha?! Master is uncomfortable, so please stop?!”

“Y-Yeah. M-Master, it must be hard for you…”

“Hahaha~!”

She could see the two of them desperately trying to intervene, but Arisha didn’t easily let go.

‘Saintess and the Chief. I know you both like him, but…’

“Hahaha~! No way~! Isn’t it okay to hold onto the teacher a little longer?”

“Oh dear. How long are you going to act like a child?

Feeling Lee Hyun patting her head, Arisha rubbed her face against his chest.

‘I can’t give him up.’