Above the sky where clouds floated lazily,
Kwak Ji-cheol stood on a platform and looked at the scoreboard.
His expression wasn’t very bright.
“Haah… What rotten luck.”
[Kwak Ji-cheol 100% Kang Hee-chan 100%]
vs
[Seo Ye-in 100% Jeong Soo-ji 100%]
He had faced Seo Ye-in twice in duel battles before, and he lost both times.
Once he was taken down by her sniping, and the other time he was blown away by her shotgun.
Was the last time we fought about a month ago?
Around five weeks.
In that time, how much had their skills changed?
Did the gap between them widen or narrow?
Either way, I won’t go down as easily as before.
During midterms, Kwak Ji-cheol had made his infamous “dark history” which painfully reminded him of his lack of skill.
So he had thrown himself into training far more diligently than before.
He even sought advice from seniors at the Emerald Magic Tower.
Thanks to that, his skills have improved noticeably over the past few weeks.
Maybe now he could say he had a bit of a chance?
Another bit of good news was that Seo Ye-in’s teammate was Jeong Soo-ji.
I know her well.
Kwak Ji-cheol and Jeong Soo-ji were both members of the Emerald Magic Tower and spent so much time together that they knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses inside out.
Jeong Soo-ji’s biggest weakness was clear:
Her physical ability is lacking.
Though Kwak Ji-cheol couldn’t claim to be particularly strong himself, Jeong Soo-ji was at the level of a near-weakling.
If he could exploit that weakness and take her down quickly to create a 2-on-1 scenario, even if there was a skill gap between him and Seo Ye-in, he would have a chance at victory.
Having finished his calculations, Kwak Ji-cheol turned to Kang Hee-chan.
“We take out Jeong Soo-ji first. If we engage her in close combat, she’ll go down easily.”
“…Okay.”
Kang Hee-chan replied half-heartedly.
From the moment he entered the arena, his gaze had been fixed on Seo Ye-in across the field.
She’s pretty. Beautiful. Gorgeous.
There were plenty of beautiful women around Kang Hee-chan after all.
Even Cha Hyun-joo had quite a face.
Her personality was a disaster, though.
But Seo Ye-in stood out among all those beauties.
Normally, someone with messy hair, a sleepy look, or squatting down to press clouds into the ground might come off a bit gloomy, but even in those moments, Seo Ye-in had a unique charm.
Kwak Ji-cheol also understood why Kang Hee-chan was staring off into space like that, but that was one thing and a duel was another.
So he spoke up again.
“I’d appreciate it if you could focus.”
“…Sorry.”
Only then did Kang Hee-chan snap out of it.
He shifted his thoughts from Seo Ye-in’s appearance to analyzing her abilities.
He had encountered Seo Ye-in before during the three-way battle in the volcanic zone.
However, back then, she had gone into hiding as soon as the fight began, so he never got the chance to face her, and he was eliminated first in a one-on-one fight with Hong Yeon-hwa.
But when he reviewed the replay later, Seo Ye-in had defeated Hong Yeon-hwa and taken first place.
The matchup between a mage and a marksman might have played a role, but it also meant that Seo Ye-in’s skills were that impressive.
If that’s the case, I’ll have to take this seriously.
Kang Hee-chan put the small wrist shield he had been using into his inventory and pulled out a large tower shield instead.
It might reduce his mobility, but against a marksman, minimizing the number of hits was crucial.
It would also make it easier to block Jeong Soo-ji’s interference.
Kwak Ji-cheol and Kang Hee-chan exchanged glances and nodded at the same time.
Meanwhile, Seo Ye-in was squatting down and pressing into the clouds with her hands. She was only half-listening as Jeong Soo-ji rambled on about their plan.
…I couldn’t finish her off.
She had hoped for Hong Yeon-hwa to be her opponent, but instead, she got an unexpected match.
Considering it was already Friday, there was a high chance that Hong Yeon-hwa had already finished her three quota matches.
Regrettably, she resolved to deal with the two in front of her.
Soon, Seo Ye-in stood up from her spot, and as if that was the signal, the countdown began.
[3]
[2]
[1]
[Start!]
Seo Ye-in blurred and disappeared right away.
She disappeared with the help of her invisible ghillie suit.
“Huh?”
Jeong Soo-ji was left all alone in an instant.
Meanwhile, Kwak Ji-cheol and Kang Hee-chan were leaping over the cloud platforms and closing in.
“Wait, hold on. The plan…”
Jeong Soo-ji tried to speak and started looking around anxiously, but no response came, just like before the match started.
Meanwhile, the two from the opposing team continued to narrow the gap.
Jeong Soo-ji started to panic.
I need to run.
Staying put would only mean handing her neck to them.
So, she kicked off the cloud platform with all her might.
She jumped onto a higher platform and then pushed herself up again, leaping as high as she could.
“Hmph.”
Kang Hee-chan and Kwak Ji-cheol laughed as if it was funny.
Their speed in crossing the platforms was far faster.
Kang Hee-chan was a sword-and-shield warrior after all.
As a close-combat class, his physical abilities were naturally superior.
Kwak Ji-cheol’s physical abilities were only slightly better than Jeong Soo-ji’s, but the sand swirling around him provided him with a platform.
Recently, he had shifted his focus to sand magic. So he was carrying plenty of sand in his inventory and using it whenever needed.
As a result, the distance between the three of them continued to shrink.
The closer they got, the more Jeong Soo-ji’s urgency turned into despair.
“D-Don’t come any closer!”
She desperately fired off earthen bullets, but Kang Hee-chan blocked them all with his tower shield.
Then, with a single leap, he landed on the same cloud platform.
“Ah…”
With every step Kang Hee-chan took forward, Jeong Soo-ji took a step back.
Unfortunately, the cloud platform wasn’t wide enough for her to keep retreating.
Soon, she found herself cornered at the edge and thought to herself,
I should’ve exercised more.
Thud!
Kang Hee-chan charged forward with his shield, and Jeong Soo-ji was struck by the impact and got flung backward.
She plummeted straight down.
“Aaaaah—!”
However, Kang Hee-chan didn’t notice.
Just as he had charged toward Jeong Soo-ji, the platform behind him wavered and Seo Ye-in appeared.
She had used Jeong Soo-ji as bait and circled around to attack from behind.
Kwak Ji-cheol noticed this and urgently called out to Kang Hee-chan,
“Kang—!”
Seo Ye-in was quicker to pull the trigger.
Ratatatatatat!
Magic bullets slammed into the back of Kang Hee-chan’s head and spine in a straight line.
Then they exploded in sequence.
Boom, boom, boom!
“Ughhh!”
[Kang Hee-chan: 99%]
[Kang Hee-chan: 81%]
The sudden impact was so overwhelming that Kang Hee-chan’s mind went blank.
His body staggered once before collapsing forward.
He too plummeted down, following Jeong Soo-ji.
[Jeong Soo-ji – %]
[Kang Hee-chan – %]
Damn it, this is driving me crazy.
Kwak Ji-cheol rubbed his face once in frustration.
In hindsight, there had been something suspicious.
He had thought she was giving up a teammate too easily, and it turned out to be a trap.
In the end, they had traded Jeong Soo-ji for Kang Hee-chan.
Now, it was just him and Seo Ye-in, one-on-one.
“……”
Her gray eyes locked onto Kwak Ji-cheol.
Next, the barrel of her gun aimed at him.
Ratatatatatata!
She fired magic bullets furiously at him.
Of course, Kwak Ji-cheol had already manipulated the sand to form a triple-layered barrier around him.
There’s no way she’ll break through that so easily—
Boom, boom, boom!
That illusion of his didn’t last long, as a series of explosions erupted and one side of the sand wall crumbled down.
Magic bullets poured in through the gap.
Kwak Ji-cheol’s health began to drop rapidly.
“Ugh!”
[Kwak Ji-cheol: 99%]
[Kwak Ji-cheol: 94%]
[Kwak Ji-cheol: 88%]
Even as the dizziness set in, Kwak Ji-cheol quickly moved the sand to repair the broken barrier and cast long-range magic to counterattack.
[Sand Gatling]
[Sand Gatling]
Tututututututututu!
Sand bullets were fired in rapid succession.
Seo Ye-in who was standing lightly on a small cloud platform moved gracefully from side to side.
The bullets either missed widely or barely grazed her as she seemed to glide past them.
All the while she reloaded her assault rifle and fired again.
Bang-bang-bang-bang!
Once more, the sand wall crumbled and the magic bullets forced their way through to strike Kwak Ji-cheol.
[Kwak Ji-cheol: 84%]
[Kwak Ji-cheol: 79%]
“Gah!”
…I can’t compete with her.
It was only then that Kwak Ji-cheol realized.
He had been confident in his improved skills, but Seo Ye-in had grown even more.
The gap hadn’t closed; it had widened instead.
No, it’s not over yet.
It wasn’t over!
Kwak Ji-cheol opened his inventory and pulled out even more sand.
Then he reinforced the sand walls, layering them even thicker.
He had taken the turtle defense strategy to the extreme.
Let’s see if she can break through this!
Seo Ye-in’s attack power had certainly increased, but with this level of defense, it would be difficult to break through using only an assault rifle.
She would have to switch to a shotgun or a sniper rifle, and as far as he knew, that would take a fair amount of time.
That would be his chance to counterattack.
“……”
However, contrary to his expectations, Seo Ye-in continued to fire the assault rifle without hesitation.
Bang-bang-bang-bang!
Explosions echoed, but thanks to the layered defensive walls, they didn’t break through.
But his relief was short-lived.
Kwak Ji-cheol felt the ground beneath his feet suddenly give way.
That’s right, here.
“Cloud Platform Bomb—!”
Instead of breaking through his defense, she shot the clouds to eliminate the ground he could stand on.
Kwak Ji-cheol looked down as he fell rapidly through the air. and, to his relief, he saw a single cloud platform floating below.
Heavens are on my side!
It couldn’t end like this.
The moment he landed on that platform, he could quickly recover and continue the fight.
However, in the next moment, he looked up and was left speechless.
“……”
Seo Ye-in was looking down at him.
And the barrel of her gun was aimed at the very cloud platform he was about to land on.
Kwak Ji-cheol shouted in desperation,
“No!”
Ratatatatata!
Magic bullets pounded the cloud platform relentlessly, causing it to explode into pieces.
With the platform that was supposed to catch him now scattered, Kwak Ji-cheol continued to fall.
“Arghhhhh—!”
Seo Ye-in stared down at him and spoke for the first time since the match began. Her eyes were cold.
“Done.”
She had taught a lesson the mage.
[Seo Ye-in, Jeong Soo-ji Win]
vs
[Kwak Ji-cheol, Kang Hee-chan Lose]
***
After Seo Ye-in had “taught a lesson” to all three of her opponents, including her teammate, I contacted Ahn Jeong-mi again.
It was to report on her training progress.
“—So, using D-rank explosive bullets, she saw quite the good results in her duel battles. At this rate, I think she will reach C-rank in no time.”
“I see. You’ve worked very hard.”
Ahn Jeong-mi seemed quite satisfied.
With the human sloth participating in training with enthusiasm and producing results, there was no reason for her not to be pleased.
Whatever Ahn Jeong-mi brought her, it was effective, so it felt rewarding.
I continued my report.
“I plan to tackle the quest scroll during the strategy battle week. Based on the content, she will need to head down into the dungeon.”
“I trust you, Kim Ho-nim. I’ll leave it to you.”
At that moment, Seo Ye-in who had been sprawled out on the table lazily rolling around suddenly jumped into the conversation.
“I want to go down too.”
“Miss, you’ve already earned the qualification for the underground level.”
“Lower.”
Seo Ye-in added with a shake of her head.
She meant she wanted to follow me into a D-rank or higher dungeon.
I expected another firm “No, you can’t!” in response, but Ahn Jeong-mi suddenly turned her gaze toward me and asked a rather unexpected question.
“Kim Ho-nim, there’s something I’d like to ask.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“Do you have any plans for summer vacation?”
“……!”
At those words, Seo Ye-in immediately lifted her head.
Shen then began tugging on my sleeve with her eyes now wide open and alert as if she had never been sleepy.
“Come visit my house.”
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