The sparring with Ahn Jeong-mi’s group continued until sunset.
Tududududu!
Under the concentrated fire of the four marksmen, the Shadow Lord was once again riddled like a beehive.
Dang Gyu-young was about to wave her hand to resummon it, but then she suddenly stopped.
“……!”
Catching that moment instantly, Ahn Jeong-mi raised her hand and signaled everyone to halt.
In a polite tone, she asked,
“Are you finished?”
“Yes, thank you for your help.”
Dang Gyu-young returned the courtesy with a bow.
She was probably seeing a notification like this:
[Side Quest: Stage 18 Hardship] (Completed)
▷ Greatly expands the range of ‘Shadow Garden’
▷ Condition 1: Fight while maintaining ‘Shadow Garden’
▷ Condition 2: Fight while maintaining at least 2 ‘Shadow Undead’
▷ Objective: Achieve proficiency (100/100%)
Sssss…
Soon, the wide shadow field spread beneath her feet rippled and began to rapidly shrink.
From a perfect square, it stretched into a long rectangle.
Next, thick shadow pillars rose up, and a roof formed overhead.
What was completed was a long corridor-like structure.
Dang Gyu-young looked up at it, her eyes filled with both admiration and pride, then waved her hand and called me over.
“Hey, hey, look. I learned something new.”
[You have acquired ‘Shadow Corridor (F+)’.]
I nodded and said,
“As expected, it’s an advanced skill.”
“Mhmm, fitting for a hardship reward. But what’s different about it?”
At a glance, the only noticeable change was that the garden had turned into a corridor.
In fact, the range had shrunk significantly.
It seemed better to show her directly, so I grabbed Dang Gyu-young’s hand and pulled her along.
“Step outside.”
“If we go out, won’t it disappear…huh?”
Dang Gyu-young’s eyes widened.
Unlike the [Garden], where the caster has to remain at the center, the [Corridor] stayed fully intact even after we stepped outside.
I added an explanation.
“It’s closer to a placement-type skill. It still consumes mana to maintain, though.”
“Well, it used a lot of mana before too, so that’s fine. Being able to move in and out freely is great.”
Then, as if something occurred to her, Dang Gyu-young waved her hand toward the corridor. The Lab Director and the Shadow Lord rose up and walked out.
Just like that, they were no longer restricted and could leave the area.
“And it’s more convenient now, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, that too.”
During the hardship challenge, she had to focus completely just to maintain the Shadow Garden, but now she barely seemed to pay it any attention.
With that much breathing room, it wouldn’t be long before she could start swinging her bat again once she got more accustomed to it.
Dang Gyu-young looked at the corridor with a satisfied smile.
“This is pretty much exactly what I wanted. If I had to nitpick, the range is a bit small, but it’ll probably increase later, right?”
“It should. It’s still F rank.”
“Nice. Starting tomorrow, I’m grinding rank.”
Since it was getting late, we decided to call it a day.
On the way out, I figured we should bring Seo Ye-in along too, so I glanced toward one side of the training ground. She was still in the middle of her evasion match.
Swish swish swish swish—!
A barrage of hologram arrows poured down relentlessly.
By now, the number of soldiers had grown to over a dozen.
Some had even become elite, resembling knights, making their attacks faster and more powerful.
Outnumbered, confined within the training ground, and dealing with random turbulence—
Even for a genius sloth, dodging everything was impossible.
Though nothing landed cleanly, arrows, spears, and twin blades occasionally grazed past her.
Papapat!
As another flurry from a hologram lancer came in, Seo Ye-in widened the distance using Feather Step and Sailboat.
The sluggish version of her across the way did the same.
Even while moving frantically, the two kept sneaking glances at each other.
Seo Ye-in glanced over and spoke.
“I dodged more.”
– …It’s even.
“By two hits.”
However, in the next moment, a hologram arrow flew in and lightly grazed Seo Ye-in’s shoulder.
At that, the sluggish version spoke in a calm tone.
– …One hit difference.
“I’m still ahead.”
– …Tie soon.
Seo Ye-in’s brow twitched slightly.
She pushed her Feather Step even harder.
Watching this, Dang Gyu-young let out a short laugh.
“Why is she trying so hard?”
“Because of who she’s up against.”
She was already highly competitive, but losing to herself?
And getting taunted the exact same way she usually did to others?
There was no way she could tolerate that.
Still, it’s about time to stop this.
If left alone, it looked like they’d keep going all night.
Proper rest was necessary to keep training efficient.
So I called out to them.
“Let’s call it a day.”
As if they had been waiting for those words, both of them stopped moving, and the hologram troops vanished like they were evaporating.
Seo Ye-in and the sluggish version faced each other.
“Let’s continue tomorrow.”
– …Okay.
“I’ll win tomorrow.”
“Me too…”
Soon, the sluggish version looked at me with sad eyes, then left a short remark before disappearing.
– …Pillow…
Maybe because it was her mirror image, even that obsession with the pillow was exactly the same.
Seo Ye-in also suddenly slumped and stretched both arms toward me.
“Carry me.”
“The dorm’s right there.”
“I’m tired. Carry me.”
“Guess you really are tired. It didn’t show at all.”
“I held it in and worked hard.”
Well, the only thing that had changed was her personality. Inside, she was still a sloth.
She might have become less lazy, but that didn’t mean things were any less exhausting.
She had been running around all day without much rest, so normally she would have collapsed long ago. The fact that she’d held out until now was impressive in itself.
So I readily offered my back.
“Alright, you’ve worked hard, so I’ll carry you.”
“Mm….”
Perched on my back like that, Seo Ye-in waved to the Hye-seong Group employees.
“Good work. Get some rest, and see you tomorrow.”
“Young miss…!”
Ahn Jeong-mi looked like she was about to burst into tears again.
She was probably thinking something like, “The young miss just told us to get some good rest…!”
On the way to the annex, I spoke over my shoulder.
“It’s nice seeing you express things more often. Try doing it even when it’s less of a hassle.”
“…Okay.”
Seo Ye-in replied shortly.
Then, as if something crossed her mind, she rested her chin on my shoulder and tightened her arms around my neck a little more.
“……”
“Why?”
“It was an expression.”
At that, Dang Gyu-young, who was walking beside us, twitched.
She looked like she wanted to say, “Hey, get down. Let me ride on his back,” right then and there, but since the annex was already in sight, she seemed to let it go.
We’d all had a long day, after all.
Instead, she turned her attention to me, shooting me a rather ominous look, like she was deciding where to bite me later.
And, as expected, that ominous feeling didn’t turn out to be wrong.
The moment we lay down on the bed, Dang Gyu-young suddenly bit down on my shoulder.
“Chomp.”
“But why today? I don’t think I did anything wrong.”
“You really think that?”
“What did I do wrong?”
“Everything.”
“Aren’t you just in a bad mood?”
“You know me well. Chomp.”
Dang Gyu-young left teeth marks all over my shoulder and arm, biting me again and again.
“……”
Seo Ye-in watched the scene with curious eyes, then brought one of my arms to her mouth.
She gave it a small nibble, then tilted her head.
“……?”
“Doesn’t taste good, right?”
“I’m not sure.”
“I don’t think that’s something you need to figure out.”
Seo Ye-in tilted her head again, but it seemed she decided to let it slide for now.
She let go of my arm and changed the subject.
“There’s something I’m curious about.”
“Go ahead, Miss Seo.”
When I replied in Go Hyeon-woo’s tone, Seo Ye-in responded in the same archaic style.
“When does this come to an end?”
[Side Quest: Stage 11 Ordeal] (In Progress…)
▷Objective: Win the evasion match against your mirror self
“Well, wouldn’t it end once you win?”
“I already won.”
Seo Ye-in answered in a slightly dissatisfied tone.
As if to emphasize it, she added,
“…By one hit.”
“You certainly gained the upper hand, but it seems the other Miss Seo hasn’t conceded yet.”
“She’s being unreasonable. Stubborn.”
“If that’s how you describe your mirror self…”
Wouldn’t that be a kind of self-introduction? Or so it seems.
As if she had heard the rest of my thought, Seo Ye-in subtly looked away.
“…I guess a one-hit difference is too small after all.”
“Didn’t you say she was being unreasonable?”
“…Now that I think about it from her perspective, I kind of understand.”
“Then tomorrow, let’s widen the gap even more.”
Since no clear victory condition had been presented, there was no choice but to continue until the mirror self accepted defeat.
Though, as someone once said, she seemed quite stubborn, so she probably wouldn’t concede easily.
***
The next day, and the day after that, the training continued in the same way.
Dang Gyu-young actively cast [Shadow Corridor], alternating between facing the Twin Heroes and the Hye-seong Group’s four-person unit.
[The rank of ‘Shadow Corridor’ has increased. (F+ → D+)]
As expected, the area of the corridor was expanding as its rank increased.
At around rank B, it would probably become even larger than the ordeal-applied garden.
There was one more piece of good news.
Dang Gyu-young swung her shadow bat through the air with a whooshing sound.
“It’s finally back. I only went a few days without it, but it felt strange.”
“Looks like Batta Gyu-young is back.”
She now had enough leeway to handle close combat, along with the corridor and the two shadow undead.
I also made progress in my own way while assisting Dang Gyu-young’s sparring.
[The rank of ‘Movement Command’ has increased. (E→D)]
▷Forced movement resistance penetration 1→2 ranks
▷An additional 2-rank penetration every 3 minutes
[The rank of ‘Twister’ has increased. (B+→A+)]
[The rank of ‘Blink’ has increased. (B→A)]
▷Cooldown 1 minute 20 seconds → 40 seconds
Blink leveled up insanely fast.
[Movement Command] was still low rank, so its growth speed was naturally quick.
And [Twister], being a lower skill of Spiral Explosion, was used as frequently as Wind Force, so that made sense too,
But even so, [Blink] reached A rank faster than I expected.
At this rate, S rank wouldn’t take long.
Meanwhile, the evasion match had become far more intense than on the first day.
A heavily armored hologram knight leapt high and brought its lance crashing down.
Boooom!
Seo Ye-in stepped back to avoid the surging shockwave, but in the very next moment, another knight charged in and thrust its lance.
Swiiiiish!
On top of that, the training ground was filled with knights clad in heavy armor.
The hologram unit had transformed into a full-fledged hologram knight order.
Perhaps because the difficulty had risen too much, perfect evasion was practically abandoned, and it had turned into a contest of who got hit less.
Even while moving frantically like that, Seo Ye-in and gloomy sloth kept exchanging words.
“That’s a six-hit difference.”
– …Now five.
“Back to six.”
– …I’ll turn it around soon.
“Stubborn.”
…Right back at you.
At that moment,
The turbulence swirling beneath Seo Ye-in’s feet seemed to grow even more intense.
Whiiiii—
It leveled up.
[Feather Step] finally broke through its wall and reached A rank.
[Sailboat] had also significantly increased its proficiency over the past few days.
On the other hand, gloomy sloth’s specs seemed to remain the same as when it was first summoned.
It seemed that even as a mirror self, it wasn’t updated in real time.
Ranking up was part of the quest process, after all.
Of course, whether from what she had learned during that time, Seo Ye-in’s movements were noticeably different from before.
Rather than kicking off the ground to run, it felt like she was hovering a few centimeters above it, riding the wind as she moved.
From that point on, the gap between the two began to widen sharply.
Swish-swish-swish-swish!
While Seo Ye-in lightly evaded the knight order’s assault, gloomy sloth took one, then two clean hits.
And in the end, it was pierced through by the hologram lances.
Papapapat!
– ……!
Though no gruesome scene of bloodshed unfolded, as if its invisible health gauge had run out, gloomy sloth collapsed flat onto the ground.
In the next moment, the hologram knight orders on both sides vanished cleanly.
Seo Ye-in trudged over to it and crouched down in front of it.
“I won.”
– I acknowledge defeat……
“Good match, my rival.”
– Likewise……
With that, gloomy sloth replied no further and dispersed, just like the other holograms had.
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