We watched the confused orcs for a moment.
– Chwik!? Where is it!?
– Is it over there?
– There’s nothing!
They had pinpointed Cha Hyeon-joo’s location the moment she fired her shot, but they still had no idea where we were.
That made sense. Arrows fly almost in a straight line, whereas mortars shoot high into the sky before dropping down.
From our perspective, getting discovered would’ve actually been better since we needed to loot the item cards. But it wasn’t a big loss either way.
“One more shot won’t hurt.”
“This is fun.”
Seo Ye-in aimed at a different group of orcs and fired the mortar.
Booooom—!
Once again, the explosion engulfed the shaman and nearby warriors.
This time, either a sharp-eyed orc caught a glimpse, or one just happened to be looking our way. Either way, they spotted us immediately.
– Chwiik, over there! It’s them!
– Rat-like humans!
Orc warriors charged at us, snorting angrily.
The distance between us which had been fairly long closed rapidly.
Seo Ye-in tucked the mortar away for now and started firing her assault rifle.
“This isn’t as fun.”
Ratatatatatata!
Hong Yeon-hwa also launched clusters of fireballs.
Several orc warriors fell mid-charge, but the rest made it all the way to the base of the building we were on.
However, they had no idea that death was waiting for them there.
The Fickle Trap now boosted to A-rank had already been set.
“Chwik?”
One warrior seemed to sense something off and looked down at his feet… but by then, it was far too late.
The ground transformed into a pit and gave way beneath them.
Below, a nest of venomous snakes pounced on the unsuspecting prey without mercy.
Seo Ye-in’s eyes sparkled again.
“This is fun.”
The remaining orc warriors froze in panic.
“Ch-Chwiik! It’s a trap!”
“Don’t step on it!”
“Chwiit! We’ll just go around!”
However, going around wasn’t an option. There were traps to the left, and more traps beyond that.
Another orc stepped on the Fickle Trap, and something shot up from the ground with terrifying force.
Boing!
It was a clown head attached to a spring.
Designed purely to startle the opponent.
Everyone’s eyes turned to Seo Ye-in at once.
“……”
“……”
“That one’s not fun.”
Well, there’s a reason the skill is called Fickle Trap.
Sometimes, you hit a dud.
The next orc warrior triggered a completely different trap.
Splat!
Oil flooded out like a tidal wave.
The orc warriors slipped, toppled over, and rolled around in utter chaos.
Watching that, Seo Ye-in spoke again.
“This is fun.”
Hong Yeon-hwa watched the scene below with curious eyes, then suddenly realized something.
The orcs were drenched in oil and oil catches fire very easily.
She pointed her staff at a pre-inscribed magic circle.
Fwoooosh!
In the blink of an eye, the area beneath the building turned into a sea of flames.
The orc warriors met an unexpectedly pitiful end for C-rank monsters.
Once the flames died down, I went down with the group and collected the scattered item cards.
“Let’s move.”
We set up on the rooftop or upper floors of another nearby three- or four-story building and repeated the same strategy.
Lay down traps, eliminate the shamans with mortars, and lure in the warriors.
It was proving to be quite effective and we were collecting a good number of cards.
That’s when it happened.
The Dragon Compass started spinning and pointed southwest.
When I looked in that direction, I saw two faint shapes bounding over buildings, swiftly making their way toward us.
Smart little things, aren’t they?
If the ground’s covered in traps, just approach from the rooftops.
Probably not intentional, though.
Given the compass’s reaction, it wasn’t hard to guess who they were.
“It’s about time they showed up. Get ready.”
Dudududududu!
A barrage of magic bullets rained down, but even while on the move, the enemies either dodged or deflected most of them.
Then, one of them suddenly leapt high into the air and came crashing down toward our position with its full weight.
In response, I fired off a dark cloud and spoke the activation phrase.
“Soft and Cushy.”
Boom!
The rapidly expanding cloud absorbed the impact, deflecting the attack harmlessly. Taking advantage of that opening, everyone focused their attacks.
Sword energy, fireballs, and mana bullets poured in.
Screeeech—
Fwoooosh,
Overwhelmed, the creature leapt away and landed on the rooftop of a nearby building.
The other one that had been following did the same.
Only then could we get a good look at them.
Humanoid forms with lizard-like heads.
Their entire bodies were covered in gleaming, scale-like spikes that resembled reptilian teeth.
Where arms should have been, they had sharp blades instead.
Dragonfang Soldiers.
Creatures crafted from the fangs of the Craftsman Dragon.
They’re ranked B.
Crack—
The armor of the one that failed its landing shattered, and scales scattered to the ground.
They were the very scales that made up the body of the Dragonscale Soldier.
Now that they were no longer useful, they’d been mercilessly repurposed into armor.
Anyway, we’ve stripped one of them.
Their design focused entirely on offense. Now that its armor’s broken, it has virtually no defense left.
So I gave instructions to Hong Yeon-hwa.
“Take that one down first. Then we’ll handle the rest.”
“Okay, got it.”
Hong Yeon-hwa nodded and immediately began chanting a spell.
Then, the two Dragonfang Soldiers crouched slightly just for a moment before shooting forward like arrows.
Go Hyeon-woo and I each took on one.
Swish swish swish—!
The Dragonfang Soldier closed the distance in an instant, swinging its blade-like arms one after another.
Something sharp and cold brushed past my head and shoulders by a hair’s breadth.
Feigning retreat as I dodged, I suddenly stepped forward and thrust out the Crow Tree.
[Harmonized Flow]
Then, just as I deflected the attack, I pointed my index finger at the creature.
Boom!
With an explosion, the Dragonfang Soldier’s entire body was engulfed in frost.
It kept up its relentless assault unfazed, but I could clearly see its movements slowing in real time.
Meanwhile, Hong Yeon-hwa had shaped the compressed flames into a long, spear-like form.
In the next instant, the fiery spear left her hand and shot toward the Dragonfang Soldier—
Boom!
It pierced straight through its chest, burning it in the process.
We gave the collapsing creature a quick glance, then immediately switched targets to the next Draconic Soldier.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The creature was launching a relentless flurry of attacks.
Go Hyeon-woo seemed fully occupied just trying to block them. He didn’t have the leeway to do anything else.
Even a graze could be fatal.
Then the solution is simple. Make sure he doesn’t get grazed.
Hong Yeon-hwa and I began casting defensive spells one after another.
[Silphid Armor]
[Reverse Curtain]
[Blazing Armor]
Whoosh—
Fwoosh!
Gentle wind and searing flames wrapped around Go Hyeon-woo’s body.
At the same time, I gave him the order.
“Go in. Now.”
“…….!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Go Hyeon-woo charged at the Draconic Soldier with his sword wrapped in sword energy.
[Rapid Current]
Slaaash—
Their forms crossed paths.
Instead of Go Hyeon-woo’s chest, it was the barriers and armor that were torn open.
The Draconic Soldier’s armor had also been deeply slashed.
But the chain attack wasn’t over yet.
Seo Ye-in aimed her gun at the creature.
Compressed wind gathered at the muzzle.
[Destructive Gale]
Ratatatatatatatata—!
Magic bullets surged forward on the tailwind.
They pierced straight through both the armor and the upper body of the Draconic Soldier, turning it into a beehive.
[Draconic Soldiers Eliminated]
▷ Dragonscale Soldier: 25
▷ Dragonfang Soldier: 2
▷ Portal: 1
Go Hyeon-woo retrieved his sword with a grim expression.
“I didn’t expect to hit my limit so soon.”
“It’s a B-rank, after all. Its gear was decent too.”
A monster that channels almost all of its B-rank power into offense.
On top of that, it’s armored with Dragonscale Soldier parts.
No matter how much of a promising student you are, it’s hard to take one down without injury.
I looked at the others and said,
“Assume we’ll have to take them down with coordinated attacks.”
“Understood.”
Of course, the tougher they are, the better the rewards.
[Piercing Spear (B)]
The item drops are matched to the monster’s rank, so this one dropped a B-rank item.
Considering the card synthesizer system, it’s effectively the same as getting two C-rank cards.
And what the other Draconic Soldier dropped was—
[Survivor Counter]
▷Displays the number of surviving participants.
These item cards were all tools designed for the midterm exam.
Also, from the use of the term “participant” we could infer that the counter only showed the number of students, excluding the residents of Craft Haven.
Everyone seemed curious and turned to look at the counter.
▷Current Survivors: 131
Hong Yeon-hwa blinked.
“That’s… lower than I expected…”
“Yesterday wasn’t exactly easy.”
Even a Dragonscale Soldier has fighting power comparable to the lower end of the first-years.
There must’ve been plenty of students who couldn’t win in a one-on-one fight and others who technically could but lost due to bad luck or poor decisions under pressure.
Naturally, today would be even worse.
▷Current Survivors: 128
▷Current Survivors: 126
Sure enough, in just that short time, three more dropped, then another two.
As my teammates’ expressions tightened, I spoke up.
“Let’s keep moving. We need to gather as many items as we can before noon.”
Because a pretty big event is scheduled for noon on Day 2.
***
We kept changing locations, launching mortars (they were fun), luring out orc warriors and Draconic Soldiers, and taking them down.
By the time the sun had risen high in the sky—
[Draconic Soldiers Eliminated]
▷Dragonscale Soldier: 25
▷Dragonfang Soldier: 9
▷Portal: 1
There had been decent progress on the side quest.
We’d also farmed a solid batch of items.
[Item Cards]
▷ Dragon Compass
▷ Handkerchief of Deception 4 New!
▷ Card Synthesizer
▷ Survivor Counter
▷ Camp (4-person) 3
▷ Camp (1-person) 10 New!
▷ Displacement (A) 1 New!
▷ Displacement (B) 4 New!
▷ Retreat (1-person) 6 New!
▷ Piercing Spear (S) 1 New!
▷ Piercing Spear (A) 1 New!
▷ Sanctuary (S) 1 New!
▷ Sanctuary (B) 2 New!
With four handkerchiefs collected, the whole party could now change their appearance.
We’d also secured a coveted S-rank battle card each.
On top of that, we had several [Displacement] cards in case of emergency. Meaning, at the very least, we were prepared.
With noon fast approaching, we headed for the place where the “major event” was set to unfold, just as planned.
That place was none other than the central plaza.
The same spot where the Craftsman Dragon had deployed a barrier on the first day.
The outskirts of the city were completely barren, but as we got closer to the center, people started to appear here and there.
Not a single civilian was in sight. Only mercenaries, all of whom looked quite capable.
Everyone was heading in the same direction toward the central plaza.
Go Hyeon-woo observed them and said,
“Even after two breath attacks last night, there are still quite a few left.”
“They probably weren’t all in one place.”
Maybe they’d had conflicts with other groups, or were just cautious by nature, or had their own reasons for spending the night elsewhere.
Because they’d been scattered like that, they avoided being wiped out in their sleep by the breath attacks.
They had probably planned to continue using that strategy, but after spending the morning engaged in guerrilla warfare with the orc army, they must have realized.
No matter how skilled you are, there’s no point in staying in small groups.
And so, they too were coming together.
And once everyone was gathered—
“They’re going to have a real showdown.”
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