Surviving as a Con Artist at the Academy

---

264th Chapter. Raid (3)

Endless was suddenly startled as something pierced through his body.

There was no one left here who could oppose him now.

Despite the four girls who had barged in using their full strength, they couldn’t even leave a scratch on him.

Moreover, now they were all incapacitated from the thorns.

‘There shouldn’t be anyone left with the capability to attack me.’

Not to mention Radon Crawler.

He was already half-dead, and no longer worth a glance.

Unless considering using him as a vessel later, he was of no interest.

That’s right. He witnessed that bastard die with his own two eyes.

But is this even possible?

-What the… How!

Suddenly, something pierced through his body.

It was a thrust from a flexible stick.

It pierced through his pitch-black body and swung horizontally, cleaving Endless in two.

The stick turned out to be a blue fishing rod. And the wielder was none other than…

“Radon…?”

Jenny whispered in disbelief, her eyes wide.

Radon, who clearly had his upper and lower halves separated, was moving around perfectly fine.

The rest of them also looked in shock at the suddenly revived Radon.

However, suspicion outweighed their joy.

Seeing a friend who should’ve been dead come back to life without any signs was undoubtedly suspicious.

Could it be due to this Illusory World that was different from reality?

“Radon? Is that really you?”

“Who else would I be?”

“But until now….”

He had been dead.

Though there was no blood, seeing his body split in half for the first time felt like it would tear my brain apart.

With such heart-wrenching feelings, Radon reappeared before them.

“Yeah. I definitely died once.”

That was no lie.

After his body was torn in half in the Illusory World, Radon’s heart had stopped.

It was only natural to assume he should be confined to a coffin for the rest of his life.

Yet here he was, rising again.

Perhaps by now, Radon’s heart was beating once more in reality.

“But how….”

“Um, well, I’m not sure how to explain this to you….”

Radon looked baffled as he glanced at the window in front of him.

*

[You have used the reward ‘Last Chance’ from the Secret Mission.]

[Life force that had fallen to zero is restored.]

[All stats return to their original state.]

The reason I was able to come back to life was precisely because of this.

It was the reward from the Secret Mission I cleared with Diora last time.

I had held off showing interest since there was no specific explanation for ‘Last Chance.’

Just then, the window popped up right before I was about to be split in half.

It was a notification about my life being in danger and a prompt asking if I wanted to use ‘Last Chance.’

Only then did I understand what it meant.

“You got a last chance to come back to life.”

I told Jenny who was asking how I came back to life.

Her reaction clearly portrayed her confusion, and Luska was no different, tilting her head in perplexity.

It seemed as though she was questioning if Radon had gone mad after dying once.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t show them what this system window looks like.

“Hahaha… I don’t know what it is, but anyway, you’ve come back to life, right? Isn’t that so, Senpai?”

Nebia said with a grin.

Mary, taken aback, suddenly asked, “Is it true? You really came back to life?”

“Absolutely. My ears can’t be deceived.”

As expected, Nebia, who could see through lies by just voice alone, realized I was genuine.

And she understood my feelings completely.

“Honestly, I’m curious how you came back too. But there’s probably a complicated story behind it, right?”

She hit the nail on the head. I nodded in agreement.

“Thank you so much for coming back.”

Suddenly, Nebia burst into tears. The others seemed to feel the same but were trying hard to hold it in.

-Yeah, I’m curious too. How the hell did I come back to life?

The Destruction God Endless rises again.

The body that had been split in half stuck together like mud.

And just like that, he was back to his normal self, as if nothing had happened.

-I didn’t expect this at all. That Dantia woman must have given you something.

Unlike me, he quickly restored his body.

His body was so adaptable that it could change into anything.

It could flow like slime, letting physical attacks pass through, or he could manipulate his body to fire thorns or thrusts.

He could even harden his flesh as needed.

This was part of Endless’s primary pattern used in the boss battle of the main story.

For Endless, the appearance in the Illusory World was just like his real form.

Thus, his patterns should be the same as his original body.

However…

-But no matter how many times you come back to life… urgh!

His weaknesses should also be the same.

Just as I expected, he suddenly began to feel pain.

Despite not being affected by any physical damage, he was writhing in agony, leaving the girls confused.

What a day filled with surprises.

-Why is this happening all of a sudden?

“Did you think I would just attack you when I attacked?”

-What?

“You know how much I enjoyed playing the main story of Devil Aka.”

Devil Aka is short for ‘Devil Road Academia.’

He already knew I was a pro at that game.

So it didn’t take much thought to reach the conclusion.

The final boss of that game was none other than Endless himself, and if I’m a veteran player, I would know the patterns and weaknesses of the final boss by heart.

-Then that means…

“In truth, your squirming body isn’t the real you. The real you is the core inside your body.”

That part could be considered Endless’s true physical body.

That slithering slime-like body was merely an armor he created for combat.

Should the actual core be attacked, his powers would diminish.

-That’s impossible! My core can move freely within my body!

In reality, the core was small, making it challenging to hit.

Thanks to this, no matter how rapid my attacks were, it was impossible to hit that moving core.

This was one of the reasons why Endless was considered a tough boss with varied patterns.

But understanding the habitual movement path was easy for a veteran.

“I can clearly see the core swimming around inside you. Also, I caught you completely off guard, thinking I was dead.”

-Ugh…!

His total lack of vigilance played a significant role.

What would happen if a veteran like me learned ‘Magic Skills’? It would be like giving wings to a tiger.

“Moreover, when I attacked your weak point, I inflicted a crack there. You know what that means, right?”

Having dealt considerable damage to the core weakened his power significantly.

This was no different from the settings in the main story.

-Do you think I’d just take it lying down?

Endless, while in pain, transformed his arm like a whip and swung it at me.

But rats swiftly dodged my pathway, and Luska blocked the attack with her dual blades.

“Why do you keep worrying people?”

“Sorry, sorry. This opponent is a bit….”

I tried to speak nonchalantly, but I fell silent.

Having seen the pained expression on Luska’s face, I couldn’t counter.

“I warned you back then, didn’t I? Not to die.”

“….”

When I was eaten by Diora, I had shown a similar sentiment.

It seemed that now she was feeling an even deeper sadness and rage.

“We’ll talk after this is over.”

The moment Luska spoke fiercely, countless thorns flew at us.

She was trying to deflect them, but a magical barrier and massive ice sheet suddenly rose before us.

The magical barrier was, of course, Mary, and Jenny, who set up the ice barrier, said, “Honestly, Radon, we have so many questions about you. But if you’re ready to hold off answering, we can wait. There’s still plenty of time.”

Mary and Nebia nodded in agreement.

“So… let’s fight together.”

This time, Luska also nodded at those words.

My answer was undoubtedly, “Yeah, let’s go. Let’s beat that boss and get back to reality!”

I raised Leviathan in response to their answers.

As Endless stood up again and attacked with tendrils, we dodged his attacks and charged toward him.

“Are you all okay? You look seriously hurt.”

“I don’t care anymore! What does it matter now during all this pain?”

Jenny spoke cheerfully, a stark contrast to how fiercely they were fighting.

There was no blood, but I could see holes all over their bodies.

When I felt the pain of being torn apart when dying, they must have felt pain too.

I healed upon resurrection, but they were still suffering.

“I don’t care! If a friend came back, I can overcome anything!”

As Mary countered Endless’s attack with fire magic, she too wore a bright smile. It felt different from her usual carefree demeanor.

“Honestly, I think I’m going to die from the pain! But… I’ll absolutely refuse to lie down until I knock that guy down!”

Nebia strummed her lute, launching sound waves infused with divine power.

Even though Endless exhaled a gas-like miasma, it was completely negated by her holy sound waves.

As a divine maiden, her powers notably had an effect on the Destruction God.

-Damn! My strength has indeed diminished. But…!

Dark, murky arrows shot forth from his body.

He multiplied those arrows, launching them imbued with ominous magic.

“Dodge!”

Naturally, I knew exactly what kind of attack that was.

So it was inevitable for me to shout to evade it.

Getting grazed by one would mean losing the ability to recover.

Noticing that danger, Nebia played her lute multiple times to create sound waves.

Covering the formless sound waves with magic, they began to take shape.

The sound waves morphed into the shape of a bird, swiftly traversing to intercept all the arrows.

Bam!—

And like a hawk, the bird dove down to bite Endless’s head.

However, Endless didn’t take even the slightest damage and took a stance as if gearing up.

Boom!—

He took a pose, releasing dark energy all around him.

The stance looked like something a young martial arts anime protagonist would strike, yet the pattern seemed to belong to a villain.

“Huh?”

“My body…!”

Jenny and Luska started to get pulled towards him involuntarily.

It was part of the process of gathering back the dark energy he just released, and since we had that energy on us, it was drawing us in.

Being at the forefront, I was severely exposed to that energy, making the pulling force overwhelming.

“Radon!”

I suddenly found myself just inches away from him.

And once again, I was caught by his tendrils.

-You can’t escape now!

I pulled out the arrow that nullified regeneration.

A vicious pattern and bizarre power that could even nullify the immortal Lyman’s regeneration.

Just as he was about to stab me with it.

“You really don’t know much about me, do you?”

-What?

I know about him, but he doesn’t know me well.

As if asking what I meant, he tried to stab the arrow into me.

Whoosh!—

With a ripping sound, something fell to the ground.

The hand that held the arrow had landed on the floor.

-Huh?

“I told you, you don’t know me.”

It was the sudden action of a black snake that severed his wrist.

Then a giant crow swooped down like a bullet, raking his neck with its claws.

And a purple dragon stomped on him.

While he wouldn’t take any physical damage, he was still shocked by these unexpected guests.

Three spirits, whom I had contracted with, had gathered right there.

Surviving as an Academy Scammer!