Duke’s Son: Re

Chapter 49

“Isn’t our president going to get killed just like this?”

Realizing the gravity of the situation, the shooting club members picked up their bows and guns again. Regardless of the potential status of a National Treasure candidate from another country, they decided first and foremost that Lauren had to be subdued.

However, they all froze like statues simultaneously.

“What did that bastard just say?”

For some reason, a boy was seen standing with his back against the unconscious president.

It was Kang Jaehyuk.

A few students recognized his identity and were even more dumbfounded.

Kang Jaehyuk was just a first-year rookie who barely managed to reach level 10 during his re-assessment.

He wasn’t even a major club president, let alone someone qualified to make such an arrogant declaration to seize control of the shooting club.

He didn’t even belong to this place in the first place.

“Is he crazy?”

“Ignore him; secure the president first.”

Deciding to ignore Jaehyuk, the shooting club members went on the offensive.

Those hiding in the upper stands and commentary boxes fired arrows and guns, while those on the first floor scattered along various paths and charged.

“It doesn’t matter. I intended to punish all of you anyway.”

Lauren, who had been about to say something to Jaehyuk, suddenly moved swiftly, his form becoming blurred.

Hundreds of bullets and arrows rained down.

Even if his armor was exceptionally tough, it was not invincible. It was too burdensome to allow all the attacks from the specialist students, admitted to the club for their shooting skills.

Tsukakakak!!

Lauren’s body skated across the ground as if sliding. The bone blade protruding from the soles of his boots operated like skates, infused with mana.

An unbelievably rapid acceleration.

As they zigzagged to dodge the barrage and soared into the air, the pupils inside his helmet left a golden trail.

Chills ran down the spines of the shooting club members.

“National Treasure candidate…!”

Bang!

Lauren landed in one of the audience stands. It was in the direction from which a notably powerful arrow had flown.

The sharp bone sword slashed through the seats, striking the chest of the archer hiding behind them.

There was no bloodshed.

Upon encountering Jaehyuk, he came back to his senses and struck his target with the flat side of the blade instead of the sharp edge.

The damage was sufficiently powerful.

Kukwakwakwakwakwang!!

The archer’s body flew over a hundred meters.

All the structures in the path, regardless of type, were shattered and floated in the air; before the debris even hit the floor, the archer was embedded in a wall, convulsing and unconscious.

Similar events unfolded repeatedly.

Every time Lauren’s form slid effortlessly, another shooting club member ended up being slammed against the wall.

The lights suspended from the high ceiling of the massive shooting range swung precariously, as if about to fall.

‘Damn, he’s too fast!’

How could it be possible that the battlefield was turning against them, all because of a single individual?

Baffled, the shooting club members began being engulfed by rage.

In Lion’s Castle, the difference in grades was monumental.

Even though he was a future National Treasure candidate, being toyed with by a first-year who hadn’t even attended a major class was something their pride couldn’t allow.

“It will be hard for him to dodge from now on.”

Students majoring in magic infused the bullets and arrows with mana.

It was a knock-off enchantment utilizing mana application methods directly learned from Professor Lee Soyoung.

Their arrows and bullets were endowed with properties of acceleration, guidance, and explosion.

Though the effects were paltry compared to skills, the potential for synergy was high since they assigned attributes considerate of compatibility with each one’s skill.

Tukwakwakwakwang!!

“…!”

For the first time, Lauren’s smoothly sprinting body hesitated.

Due to arrows that deflected erratically and bullets that abruptly exploded, a series of attacks were allowed on him.

Colorful toxic mist enveloped him.

Toxicology majors granted poison to trap setup skills to confuse all of his senses, including his vision.

A fresh salvo of sniper attacks rained down on him.

‘There’s a reason they managed to hold their ground between China and Japan.’

An unusual light swirled in Lauren’s golden eyes as he plucked the poisoned arrows from his chest and side.

Indeed, Lion’s Castle was a prestigious institution.

It didn’t take much imagination to realize that its graduates were supporting South Korea.

‘Ultimately…’

It would be fine if he sorted things out all at once.

Leaping high, Lauren hung upside down from the ceiling.

The bone blades on the soles of his boots had transformed into hooks that latched onto the steel frames of the ceiling.

‘How in the world does that bone work?’

As the students cast tiring glances at Lauren, who was utilizing bone in all sorts of forms, a bizarre sight unfolded.

〈Bone Flower〉

The shooting range was covered in a field of white flowers.

It was an optical illusion created by hundreds and thousands of hands sprouting from the ground and walls, fully unfurling.

The combat ended the moment the shooting club members became entranced by the beautiful and surreal scene.

Everyone in the arena was held and restrained by bone hands.

Originally a skill where sharp fingers tore and pierced the target into a red flower field.

However, because Lauren halted the deployment midway, the field remained white.

“As punishment for messing with Dojin, reflect and remember your transgressions.”

Kwakduk!

As the bone hands clutched at the wrists and ankles of the shooting club members, screams erupted.

The overwhelming martial power of a National Treasure candidate.

Exactly 43 shooting club members were deprived of their will to fight and collapsed.

“Managing this much without summoning a single Undead? Just as one would expect.”

“…?”

Lauren, who had been coldly observing the students groaning with their broken limbs, couldn’t believe his ears.

An inappropriate, calm voice was heard that seemed ill-suited for the situation.

Surprised, Lauren turned his gaze to find Jaehyuk standing upright.

Around where he was leaning against the wall, white bone fragments were strewn.

“Phew, that was close,”

said the girl sweating bullets next to Jaehyuk, groaning.

Wasn’t her name Chae Dahui?

She looked familiar as she was from the same class A.

Despite sporting an expression akin to a frightened squirrel, she was the culprit who sliced through the dozens of bone hands targeting Jaehyuk.

“… You couldn’t protect Dojin, yet you persist with the help of a teammate.”

Lauren, lightly dropping from the tens of meters high ceiling, glared at Jaehyuk.

“In Europe, a noble is known not as someone who is protected but as someone who protects, but it seems it is different in Korea?”

The reproachful gaze was fierce.

Lauren looked unsatisfied even after laying waste to the shooting club.

Jaehyuk replied indifferently.

“You just want to pick a fight, don’t you?”

Lauren undoubtedly knew better than anyone else that he was being unreasonable.

Reminding Lauren of that instance, Jaehyuk shrugged his shoulders.

“If you’ve got a problem, just settle it with a fight.”

“C-calm down! We all came to avenge Dojin, remember? We’re on the same side!”

Chae Dahui intervened, horrified, but her efforts were in vain.

Crack, crack!

Sounds of aligning joints resonated, and Lauren’s bone armor began to transform.

Originally massive in size, emphasizing defense like full plate armor, it swiftly changed to a sleeker form.

“It was the same the first time we met.”

Chaiing!

A rib bone from some beast shot out of Lauren’s wrist and into his hand.

The same bone sword he used when battering the shooting club members.

It exuded an understated blue light, emitting an ominous aura.

“However, with Dojin absent, you cannot stop me now.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

A wide smile spread across Jaehyuk’s face.

His heart was pounding.

Among this year’s freshman class considered to be the top 14.

Among them, the existence considered comparable only to Silla Kyung, ranked at the pinnacle, was the exchange student Lauren right before him.

Jaehyuk wasn’t arrogant enough to already debate his odds of victory against him.

But he was curious.

Curious to see how effective his skills would be against an Austrian National Treasure candidate.

He wanted to gauge himself.

To see if he indeed had the right to dream of being the strongest.

‘This will give me one more thing to talk about with Father during the holidays.’

Brain dead.

Kang Jaehyuk’s father was essentially pronounced dead.

Yet to Jaehyuk, his father was still a living, breathing family member.

The boy was always regretful.

The fact that all he had to talk about was how many times he swung his sword today and how tasteless the porridge prepared by Steward Hwang was.

That was all he had to say after being confined to the mansion for eight years.

Furthermore, it was awkward to mention the news from the media.

They always seemed to link back to the Kang family negatively.

Even the villains depicted in dramas were characters modeled after the Kang family, showcasing the media’s animosity toward them.

But now, the situation had changed.

Thanks to attending Lion’s Castle, he accumulated stories worth sharing with his father day by day.

“Why do you look so delighted?”

Jaehyuk’s reaction disconcerted Lauren.

Lauren, too, was a member of a duke family.

Understanding the prowess of a duke family better than anyone, he wasn’t indifferent even if the Kang family had fallen.

Jaehyuk’s recently awakened bloodline skill was assumed to have formidable potency.

However, Kang Jaehyuk had just recently awoken.

The disparity in skill proficiency and level between the two was as vast as the sky and ground.

And yet, Kang Jaehyuk was merely smiling, as if forecasting his own victory.

‘A useless person. Being close to Dojin won’t benefit him…’

Lauren, planning to thoroughly crush Jaehyuk, stopped his line of thought midway.

“A trial I can’t avoid should be enjoyed. Don’t have regrets later; make sure to fight properly. If you swing a sword clumsily against me, you’ll experience a bit of trouble.”

“… Ha.”

Warning him arrogantly?

Lauren squinted his eyes, preparing to brandish his sword conspicuously when—

“What a mess. If the seniors saw this, they’d have us all killed.”

A strange woman’s voice came from behind.

“…!”

Jaehyuk and Lauren were both startled.

The fact that a new figure had approached so closely had slipped past their notice until it was too late.

It was a tall beauty with long hair.

She glanced at the unconscious Noh Junyeob in the corner and then stomped hard on his face.

“No doubt this bastard caused trouble again.”

Bang!

She kicked Noh Junyeob’s side, sending him flying toward the entrance.

After presumptively dusting off her foot, as if something dirty had stuck to her, the woman finally turned her gaze toward the boys.

“Still haven’t cooled off? Then take that bastard and bury him in cement or drown him at sea, your call. It seems I’m quite busy trying to clean up before the instructors catch on.”

Several shooting club members, who had followed her, were hauling all sorts of materials and props.

Ignoring their fellow members groaning in pain with broken limbs, it seemed the shooting club was divided into two major factions.

Lauren, who was significantly less enthused, snorted and turned away, whereas Jaehyuk stood there, speaking meaningfully.

“If he’s going to be buried, it should be in the ground soaked with Dojin’s blood.”

“…?”

Everyone turned their gaze following Jaehyuk’s direction toward the entrance.

Noh Junyeob, who had gradually come to his senses, was slowly getting back on his feet.

Jaehyuk motioned with his chin, directing him.

“Prepare and stand in the lane.”

“Who… who the hell are you?”

Noh Junyeob, holding his throbbing head, glared at Jaehyuk as if he intended to kill him.

Faintly recalling his memories before fainting.

“Kang Jaehyuk.”

Jaehyuk responded while retrieving a longbow from the weapon display and strumming it lightly.

“I’m Baek Dojin’s team leader and comrade.”

Taking control of a club was straightforward.

You beat the club president into submission.

However, unlike Lauren’s brute force, there had to be significance.

One had to challenge and achieve victory according to the ‘rules’ established by the club to compel total submission.

Yet, such ‘rules’ were inherently advantageous to the club that created it.

Moreover, a challenger who fails to meet the challenge pays an enormous price.

Throughout the history of Lion’s Castle, only a few attempted club conquest.

“Grab your gun. Let’s have a round of shooting.”