The Academy’s Time Stop Player

TL/Editor: looloo

Schedule: 5/Week Mon-Fri

Illustrations: Here

"This can't be..."

Chairman Kim Jeongyong's pupils dilated with shock.

It was an unbelievable situation.

Likely, the chairpersons watching this scene through the monitors were thinking the same.

"Is that the giant that massacred the wizards of the Mage Tower...?"

The giant-shaped demonic beast that had massacred the Mage Tower's wizards appeared in Korea.

It was an unexpected crisis.

Who could have anticipated that a boss monster-level demonic beast from the dimensional dungeon would appear right from the start?

"Student Hajoon!"

He turned his head hastily, calling out to Hajoon.

In such a situation, the most urgent location was predetermined.

However, before the chairman could turn his head to call him, Hajoon had long since disappeared.

That was when it happened.

"The giant!"

An agent's exclamation redirected Chairman Kim Jeongyong's gaze back to the monitor.

Soon, a look of astonishment appeared on his face.

"It's been subdued!!"

The situation, thought to be desperate, was resolved far too easily.

It felt like merely a moment, so brief it was almost instantaneous.

Yet, the situation that astounded the chairman did not end there.

"A, another giant has appeared in London, England! Ah..."

"Ah..."

An exasperated sigh mixed with astonishment escaped the agent reporting the situation, and Chairman Kim Jeongyong, witnessing the scene, also let out a sigh of astonishment.

Immediately after the giant's limbs were demolished in Korea,

Hajoon, who had somehow traveled through the gate to London, was seen wielding a giant hammer against the giant in London, just as he had done in Korea.

"Everyone, stay calm! Do not break formation!"

The sage Anna flew through the sky, shouting to the heroes.

Anna, a top-tier hero representing England, along with others, moved to block the giant's movements, but some heroes waiting in the rear began to retreat hesitantly at the giant's appearance.

Of course, Anna could understand their feelings.

Even she was overwhelmed by the ominous mana emanating from the giant's body.

If she had not protected herself with sage's mana, she too would have felt the same fear as them.

'How can such mana exist...'

It was not a realm of mana that humans could understand.

At least, to Anna's eyes, it was such mana.

The mana of the giant, as perceived and felt through the eyes of a sage, was a force that should not exist in this world.

But what was even more terrifying was the fact that the giant in front of her was merely a puppet made of mana.

Anna, with the eyes of a sage, could discern that the giant before her had no real substance.

This meant, ultimately, that there was an entity beyond the dimensional dungeon that created such giants.

"Ugh!"

"Don't look too closely at the monster's mana, child."

At that moment, Helen Belhar, leaping over a building to approach Anna, cautioned her.

"With the eyes of a sage, you might see things that are invisible to us. But looking too closely will do you no good. Focus on stopping the monster's movements now."

"Yes!"

Anna, sweating coldly, looked at the giant, taking Helen's advice to heart.

As she said, the priority right now was to stop the giant's movements rather than to despair. If the giant's power was as seen, it could easily break through her barriers and escape to the outskirts of the capital.

And that was the worst-case scenario for Anna and all the heroes gathered here.

Anna attempted to cast a spell to somehow stop the giant's movements.

That was when it happened.

Whoosh! Thwack!!

"!?"

The eyes of all the heroes gathered here, including Anna, widened in surprise.

A massive golden hammer had suddenly appeared in the air and swept the giant off its feet.

Whoosh! Boom!!

As the giant was sent flying far away, rolling on the asphalt.

Thwack!!

Suddenly, from the opposite direction where the giant had been sent, another hammer appeared and once again struck the giant to the other side.

Kwoong!!

As the giant rolled on the ground, sweeping through the nearby buildings, it crashed into a high-rise building with a loud thump, sitting heavily on the ground.

In that situation, a sparkle began to form in Anna's eyes.

She knew who the owner of the hammer that struck the giant was.

"Mr. Hajoon!"

For a moment, as the dust rose from the ground due to the impact, Hajoon approached the giant, hammer in hand.

Hajoon approached the giant with a puzzled expression.

This giant was strange.

It had much more durability compared to the giant seen in the Mage Tower and the one that had just appeared in Korea through the dimensional dungeon.

"…I see."

But soon, Hajoon could understand the reason.

The giant in front of him harbored much more mana than the other giants.

And this fact provided Hajoon with important information.

Hajoon's gaze turned towards the gate of the dimensional dungeon floating in the sky.

'There!'

Hajoon was certain.

Just as the Elf King existed beyond the dimensional dungeon, the King of Giants must also be situated in one of the six dimensional dungeons.

And Hajoon could tell that the dimensional dungeon opened in England was exactly that place.

The mana felt from the giant slumped against the building was similar to the strong mana felt from beyond the dimensional dungeon.

The moment he realized this fact, the corners of Hajoon's mouth slowly rose.

Whoosh!!

Simultaneously, Hajoon's figure disappeared.

Hajoon, having stopped time, charged towards the giant and swung down his hammer.

Boom!!

At the same time, the limbs of the giant slumped against the building exploded, scattering dirt in all directions.

The shockwave sent a powerful blast of wind towards the heroes waiting nearby, and the dust rose in all directions, temporarily obscuring the surrounding view.

In that situation, Hajoon looked at the dimensional dungeon floating in the sky with a calm face.

He had located it.

However, he had no immediate plans to go beyond.

There was still work for Hajoon to do here.

"Wait for me."

Leaving only those words behind, Hajoon disappeared again.

Not right now.

At least until Lain kills the Elf King, Hajoon planned to go meet him.

Meanwhile, unlike Korea and England, the United States, Russia, Japan, and China were currently facing hordes of demonic beasts.

The types of demonic beasts pouring out from the dimensional dungeons were diverse.

The problem was that the types of demonic beasts emerging were known to inhabit only the realm of extinction.

"It just keeps coming without end."

The American hero, Adrian, enlarged his hand and punched towards the demonic beasts falling from the sky.

At the same time, Liam, wielding a spear, took a throwing stance and hurled Mirtain towards the center of the demonic beasts falling from the dimensional dungeon.

Mirtain, speeding in a straight line, pierced through the hearts of numerous demonic beasts falling from the dimensional dungeon as it whirled through the air.

It was still manageable.

No matter how many demonic beasts from the realm of extinction there were, the strategy laid out in anticipation of the dimensional dungeon's Break wouldn't easily collapse.

The greatest heroes of the United States were repelling the demonic beasts at the front.

The world's number one hero, Andre Heut, and the fifth-ranked hero, Joa Elliot.

Simultaneously, the great hero Adrian Heights and Liam, wielding a mythic artifact, were intercepting the demonic beasts falling from the sky.

Above all, the moment the dimensional dungeon opened, Lain, who had flown into the dimensional dungeon at an unseen speed with a sonic boom, had torn apart half of the demonic beasts falling from the dimensional dungeon, ensuring that the defense lines of the United States were not easily breached.

However, Andre, watching this situation as the chairman of the American Heroes Association, could tell.

This state of affairs wouldn't last long before it would inevitably collapse.

'It's only a matter of time...'

With each one classified as a boss monster of a normal dungeon, the overwhelming number of demonic beasts from the realm of extinction poured in, making it impossible to withstand a war of attrition.

Of course, in all four countries, the magicians and heroes in the rear were somehow intercepting the demonic beasts pouring from the sky to prevent them from spreading out, but if such a number of demonic beasts continued to pour endlessly, it was only a matter of time before the battlefield turned into a melee.

They had to hope the dimensional dungeon would close somehow before then.

Chairman Andre thought of Lain.

'Never thought she'd actually go through with that crazy plan...'

During last evening.

Andre couldn't help but be astonished by what Lain said when she visited the chairman's office alone.

-You're going into the dimensional dungeon?

-Yes.

Andre could only shake his head and object to Lain's words.

-It's suicide, Lain.

-...

-Are you sure you want to die-

-Is there any other way to close the gate?

Lain interrupted Andre's words.

At that moment, Andre, with his eyes wide open in surprise, lost his words and could only stare blankly at Lain. After saying a few words to Andre, Lain turned around and left the association.

"If you don't want to trust me, trust that guy from Korea. He's entrusted this task to me as well."

...

At the mention that the Irregular from Korea had entrusted her with this task, Andre had no rebuttal and could only let Lain go.

However, the next day, when the dimensional dungeon opened and Lain took action, Chairman Andre understood why the Irregular had entrusted Lain with this task.

An extraordinarily huge mana burst forth from Lain's body.

It was an aura that matched or even slightly overwhelmed the giant's aura seen in the Mage Tower.

For a moment, Andre doubted if the girl flying towards the dimensional dungeon was indeed Lain.

Thus, in the end, Chairman Andre decided to trust Lain.

What he needed to focus on right now was trusting Lain and enduring until the dimensional dungeon closed.

But the next moment.

"..."

"What on earth is that..."

A situation arose that forced all the heroes, including the chairman, to be astonished.

Countless wyverns appeared.

Humanoid demonic beasts, precisely elves, riding on the backs of wyverns were seen.

Their number was so vast it was impossible to estimate, but the problem was that unlike the demonic beasts seen so far, the ones riding the wyverns were moving together strategically.

"This is bad!?"

The destination of the wyvern swarm soaring through the sky was the blue barrier protecting the heroes. Predicting their goal was to destroy the barrier, Chairman Andre was about to command the heroes when it happened.

A massively enlarged golden hammer swept through the wyverns flying in formation.

Simultaneously, like Lain from the sky, the wyverns fell, their wings torn apart.

In that situation, a sparkle appeared in Chairman Andre's eyes.

He realized the Irregular had come to assist.

Meanwhile, Hajoon, who had swung the hammer, looked again at the wyverns falling from the sky.

Although Hajoon had swung his hammer at them, not all the wyverns were killed by Hajoon's hammer.

Precisely, some of the wyverns, as if they had an invisible transparent barrier around them, survived the fall even after being hit by Hajoon's hammer.

"Did they protect themselves with barrier magic?"

[It's the Legion of Hermorus. True to their elven race, they are proficient in magic.]

Certainly, seeing them survive after being hit by the massively inflated hammer, it was clear they were protected by some exceptionally strong protective magic.

Although using the magic of destruction could easily break their barriers, Hajoon planned to conserve his mana as long as possible.

'I guess I don't need to conserve my physical strength.'

Given the existence of time stop, there was no need to conserve physical strength.

Hajoon immediately activated 'Slow Time's Flow.'

Soon, the world gradually slowed down, and only Hajoon's body moved freely, unaffected by time.

Elves riding wyverns poured down from beyond the dimensional dungeon.

At the same time, elves who survived Hajoon's hammer strike began to jump off the backs of the falling wyverns and charged towards the heroes below.

A chaotic battle seemed inevitable.

Hajoon leaped towards the surviving elves, swinging his hammer.

Thwack! Thump!

The hammer swung by Hajoon, filled with terrifying speed and strength, shattered the barriers around the elves.

And as the barriers broke, Hajoon's hammer headed for the elf's head.

Puff!

The head of an elf disappeared in an instant without even a chance to utter a dying curse.

Hajoon took down one elf and immediately turned to charge at the other elves.

This action continued.

He simply swung his hammer to break the barriers and then crushed their heads.

When about 3 seconds of real time had passed, the heads of thousands of elves burst simultaneously.

[Sub Quest]

Character: Kim Hajoon (Liber Laphilton Phil Ehrman)

Description: Defeat the demonic beasts pouring out from inside the dimensional dungeon.

Kill Count: (500/500)

Reward: 20,000 Experience Points

[Sub Quest]

Character: Kim Hajoon (Liber Laphilton Phil Ehrman)

Description: Defeat the demonic beasts pouring out from inside the dimensional dungeon.

Kill Count: (...,000/...,000)

Reward: 30,000 Experience Points

[Sub Quest]

Character: Kim Hajoon (Liber Laphilton Phil Ehrman)

Description: Defeat the demonic beasts pouring out from inside the dimensional dungeon.

Kill Count: (...,000/...,000)

Reward: 40,000 Experience Points

[Success!]

[Rewards will be given.]

[You have exceeded the limited number of kills.]

[Additional rewards will be provided!]

[Additional Reward: +5,000 Experience Points]

[Your Level has increased!]

[Your Level has increased!]

Ding!

[Sub Quest]

Character: Kim Hajoon (Liber Laphilton Phil Ehrman)

Description: Defeat the demonic beasts pouring out from inside the dimensional dungeon.

Kill Count: (* * /**,000)

Reward: 50,000 Experience Points

Soon after, another quest notification popped up following the success notifications of the previous quests.

Seeing his level rise and the new quest window appear, Hajoon had a thought.

'Is it time to level up?'

Both the given environment and the quests seemed to suggest so.

It was as if the system was telling Hajoon to level up.

Then, just this once, it wouldn't hurt to graciously accept the system's favor.

Hajoon grinned and activated time stop.

He had to make the most of this time and level up as quickly as possible.