Chapter 551: 17th and 18th Week Final Exam Part 6

As a result of combining an A-rank magic bullet, an S-rank explosive shell enhanced through Amplification, the rank bonus from Marksmanship, and finally Park Na-ri’s buff—

When the blue explosion subsided and the dust cleared, no one was left standing in that spot.

[Side Quest: 17th and 18th Week Final Exam In Progress….]

▷ Objective 1: Eliminate Competitors (6/20)

Seeing the kill count go up confirmed it.

The four-person party had been cleanly erased by a single mortar round.

“……!”

Even Seo Ye-in herself slightly widened her eyes, as if she hadn’t expected that much power.

I spoke in an arrogant tone.

“Do you feel the ‘power’?”

“Overflowing power…!”

“Let’s keep up this momentum and teach that bad Group C a lesson.”

“Teach them a lesson.”

Seo Ye-in clenched her fist.

Meanwhile, even though the Group C party had been wiped out, the crystal remained where it was…

Still connected to the sanctuary by a pillar of light.

Which meant it was continuing to charge.

Now this is what you call killing two birds with one stone.

We take out rival team members and seize their crystal.

And if you include the side quest, that makes it three birds with one stone.

Flaaash!

Soon, the crystal emitted a strong burst of light, signaling that charging was complete.

At that, Park Na-ri glanced up at the sky. Chammy let out a sharp cry and then swiftly dove toward the sanctuary.

Like snatching prey, she grabbed the crystal, flew back toward us, and dropped it with a light thud.

“Grrr.”

Bum slowly padded toward the crystal.

For a moment, I thought he might pick it up in his mouth, but instead—

He stared down at it with curious eyes and nudged it around with his forepaw.

A cat’s still a cat, after all.

Even if he’d grown as big as a mountain, I guess instinct is instinct.

He’d looked bored for a while now, so I decided to let him play for the moment.

“Huh? Over there…”

When I turned my head to where Park Na-ri was pointing, I saw two students appear at another sanctuary.

A male and a female.

And the girl looked familiar.

Those were the ones I saw at the beginning.

The one who had been fooling around with an axe got beaten down by me and chased off.

Looks like she waited out her cooldown outside and re-entered.

Unfortunately for her, she was about to get kicked out again.

Talk about bad luck. Of all places to choose.

The sanctuary the two students had arrived at…

It was packed with Seo Ye-in’s fickle traps.

Her gray eyes shimmered with anticipation.

“…My heart’s pounding.”

And they didn’t disappoint.

As the boy approached the stone tower holding out an empty crystal, thick wooden vines suddenly burst up from beneath his feet and bound him tight.

!!

He struggled in panic, but it didn’t look like he could break free easily.

The girl, flustered as well, tried to hack through the vines with her axe.

But after cutting a few strands, she stepped on another trap and a massive surge of electricity erupted from beneath her feet.

Fzzzzzzzt—!

The flash was bright enough to light up the entire area in an instant.

The result was obvious.

She was immediately rendered incapacitated and ejected.

Should’ve been more careful.

If you trigger one trap, you should assume there are more nearby.

Maybe she was too panicked to think straight.

Left alone, still struggling, the boy found a rifle barrel aimed squarely at him.

“Finish it.”

Thunk—

The magic bullet shot out and struck him cleanly between the eyes.

▷ Objective 1: Eliminate Competitors (7/20)

The kill count only went up by one, since I hadn’t contributed to the traps.

The mortar and the sniper rifle, on the other hand, had the amplified explosive shells applied.

A bit disappointing, but there would be plenty more opportunities.

Chammy retrieved the second crystal and dropped it on our side.

Since no new visitors showed up for a while, we ended up chatting about random things again.

Then Park Na-ri asked,

“What are you going to do… during break?”

“I’m going to the Dang Clan with Noona. And with her.”

“Her” of course meant Seo Ye-in.

At the mention of Dang Gyu-young, Seo Ye-in added,

“Kind Qyu-Qyu.”

“When did you two get so close?”

“Fought. Made up.”

Come to think of it, they did face each other in that team-up duel battle match.

That was probably when the invitation to visit her family came up too.

I nodded, then looked back at Park Na-ri.

“Anyway, that’s the plan.”

“Oh…”

“What about you? What are you doing over break?”

“I’m… Giant Mountain Dragon.”

“You’re going to see it?”

“Mhmm… and train there…”

Near the Emerald Magic Tower, there stands a mountain.

One of the most famous and tallest peaks in the world of Dragon Slayer Academy.

Was there a Giant Mountain Dragon living there?

That mountain was the Giant Mountain Dragon.

Since some distant past no one can even date anymore, it has existed there in the form of a mountain.

It rarely moves.

Its temperament is relatively gentle and neutral, so it periodically interacts with the Emerald Magic Tower and allied factions.

And one part of that exchange is allowing people to “climb” the mountain.

Since it is a dragon’s body, it is filled with the energy of nature, creating an optimal training environment for certain related classes.

Though it’s not like just anyone can walk in.

If you were to compare it to a person, it would be like some bug that crawled out of nowhere creeping along your back. Why would anyone just leave that alone, not knowing what it might do?

It might suddenly bite or burrow into your body, after all.

That’s why numerous guardians and draconic soldiers stand watch over the mountain, allowing only a very limited number of people to enter.

And it seems that opportunity has come to Park Na-ri.

She’s a promising talent, after all.

She enrolled under the high expectations of the Great Nature Guild and posted quite impressive results this year.

Even among the fierce competition of promising talents and student council elites, she ranked in the upper-middle tier.

From the guild’s perspective, it would make sense to support her even more wholeheartedly.

That’s how she managed to get the opportunity even though she’s only just moving up to her second year.

I should go there myself sometime.

I cast a glance at my staff.

The Deep-Rooted Crow Branch.

Despite being an S+ rank item, it still has one upgrade slot remaining.

What I add at the end is what really matters.

It will determine whether it ultimately reaches EX rank or not.

I’ve set the bar high for that reason, and an item possessed by the Giant Mountain Dragon would meet that standard in many ways.

Though I’ll have to figure out later how to find it and how to ask for it.

Flaaaash—!

At that moment, one corner of my vision filled with bright light.

Another party had appeared and was in the middle of charging the crystal.

A three-person composition: knight, archer, mage.

“……”

We exchanged glances and immediately sprang into action.

Seo Ye-in adjusted the mortar, while Park Na-ri and I applied amplification and buffs.

Boom—

With a clear firing sound, a blue shell shot upward.

Coincidentally, the mage who had been blankly staring at the sky turned in our direction.

……!?

Spotting the shell, he furrowed his brow as if wondering what it was, then his eyes widened as he sensed the danger.

He shouted urgently and threw himself aside, but the other party members failed to react in time.

Booooooom—!

They were swept up in the blue explosion.

Seo Ye-in immediately switched to a sniper rifle.

Taking aim at the opponent, she pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Baaang—!

The mage had just managed to push himself back up, still staggering from the aftermath of the explosion.

Even so, he sensed the incoming bullet with superhuman reflexes and tried to dodge.

But the mana bullet, already halfway through its flight, flickered out of sight and then slammed into the side of his head.

[Spatial Fold] had activated.

The mage spun wildly once before being flung away, writhing on the ground before finally going limp.

“……Performance art.”

After leaving that brief remark, Seo Ye-in moved the mortar to another spot.

Another sanctuary had just received visitors.

Once we finished hastily preparing, she pulled the trigger.

Boom—

The mortar launched another blue shell into the air.

***

After spending quite some time fishing for people like that, we ended up securing no fewer than six crystals.

[Side Quest: 17th and 18th Week Final Exam In Progress….]

▷Objective 1: Eliminate competitors (19/20)

Since we had taken down multiple parties of two to four members, the first objective was nearly complete.

Of course, there was no need to stop the moment we hit twenty.

The more we exceeded it, the greater the reward would be.

But the visitors are starting to thin out.

The volcanic zone was vast, with sanctuaries scattered everywhere, so there was no guarantee that Group C parties would come all the way out here to charge.

And the ones who did show up had all been taken out.

I considered waiting a bit longer, but—

Rumble…

The volcano let out a low growl, and vibrations traveled up through the ground beneath our feet.

It meant activity would resume soon.

Then they probably won’t come anywhere near here.

The point of the final exam was to carry out your duties even in an extreme environment where fireballs rained from the sky.

The participants would soon realize that themselves.

For now, though, since it was still early, most of them were likely gripped by a vague sense of fear, choosing to play defensively or retreat to their base.

It’s almost respawn time, too.

The ones we had gleefully taken down would reenter soon enough and report what they had experienced to Jeong Jin-myeong.

That would put everyone on high alert, making it even less likely anyone would come this way.

All things considered, this was the right time to call it.

So I turned to Seo Ye-in and Park Na-ri.

“Let’s head back for now.”

“Mhmm….”

I planned to hand over the crystals at the base and grab a quick bite to eat.

Before long, we began sprinting again at full speed, just like when we first arrived.

Boom-boom-boom—!

Behind us, the volcano had just started erupting.

It spewed fireballs and volcanic ash, and the ground shook violently with constant tremors.

When Chammy who had been flying overhead suddenly twisted her body to the side,

“Pieeek?”

A fireball narrowly grazed past her.

They rained down in front of us without pause as well, blocking our path.

“Grrr.”

Bum let out an annoyed growl, but still leapt over or detoured around them as if performing acrobatics.

Meanwhile, Seo Ye-in and I did nothing.

Boom!

Another fireball flew straight at us, but the wind wrapped around us like armor and swept the flames away.

Sylphid Armor was in effect.

And there was elemental resistance, too.

For that reason, a volcanic eruption was no different from a passing shower to me.

I moved forward in complete calm.

At the same time, my eyes constantly scanned the surroundings.

If there’s anything along the way, I should grab it.

Sure enough, when I took a closer look at a tree standing off to one side, something was glinting near its base.

It was an empty crystal.

I quickly picked it up and hurried on.

After a while, a river of lava blocked our path.

It had swollen from the eruption and was overflowing.

But in a gap between rocks that were almost completely submerged in lava, I spotted another glimmer.

So I asked the others for a moment.

“Hold on a moment.”

Then I waded straight across the lava and retrieved the empty crystal.

Watching me, Park Na-ri and Bum seemed to sprout a flurry of question marks over their heads.

“……??”

“……Grrng?”

They kept glancing back and forth between my face and my legs, as if asking whether it wasn’t hot.

Instead of explaining, I simply turned my back and said,

“Let’s get going.”

“……Uh, m-mhmm….”

Still looking dazed, Park Na-ri climbed back onto Bum.