Chapter 668: 4th and 5th Duel Battle Week Lock Part 3

The mark only lasted a few seconds at most.

But if anything, that seemed to put even more pressure on them.

Lee Seul-bi kept glancing anxiously at the ground beneath her feet, even as her expression made it clear she wanted to hit me.

“……”

A wide blue circle had spread out around her.

Whether she knew about [Pulverize Zone] or not, she must have figured that something was going to happen within its range.

And nine times out of ten, it would happen right when the mark expired.

I had, in fact, set it to ten seconds.

If she gets out, great. If she doesn’t, that’s fine too.

With such a wide area and such a short delay, it wouldn’t deal much damage, but landing a solid hit had value in itself.

At least, that’s how it is for me.

But from Lee Seul-bi’s perspective, she had no way of knowing exactly how powerful it was.

Could she really bring herself to simply “take the hit”?

Mages, especially stationary battery types, weren’t used to slugfests, which would make the choice even more uncomfortable.

In the end, Lee Seul-bi hurriedly cast a spell, and a small wave formed beneath her feet.

Whoooosh—

She rode it away at high speed and escaped the blue circle.

Song Cheon-hye likewise had to cover a considerable distance to avoid the barrage of fireballs and Frozen Spirit Shots.

The next moment, both of them frowned and put their hands to their heads at the same time.

“……Ugh.”

“Ah.”

The concussion effect had kicked in.

Hong Yeon-hwa and I didn’t miss the opening that was created.

Whoooosh—

Song Cheon-hye felt the wind gathering and compressing around her and looked confused.

Was it another fake-out, or was I really using wind magic this time?

It was all buildup.

I’d been pretending to mess with her while constantly playing mind games for this exact moment to increase the success rate of [Spiral Explosion].

Song Cheon-hye apparently decided that dodging was still her best option and tried to kick off the ground, but—

“……Ah.”

She barely managed to move before stumbling.

The effects of [Mark of Concussion] were still lingering.

At that moment, I chained the rest of my skills together.

[Activated ‘Diamond Freeze (C).’]

[Duration 00:00:28]

[Cooldown 00:07:58]

After adding the “Freeze cannot be cleansed” effect, I looked Song Cheon-hye straight in the eyes.

[Activated ‘Octopus Limbs’.]

[Activated ‘Mutual Destruction Eye (B).’] *10

[The target has been afflicted with ‘Poison (B).’]

[The target has been afflicted with ‘Weathering (B)’ …….]

[The target has been afflicted with ‘Freeze (B)’ …….]

…….

Whoooosh—

Crackle—

Song Cheon-hye immediately used a debuff cleanse.

I had no idea how many of those she’d brought.

Of course, this time it didn’t do her any good.

“……Huh?”

It can’t be cleansed.

This was part of the mind game too.

Anyone would be thrown off if something that had been working perfectly fine suddenly stopped working.

Meanwhile, the wind continued to compress further and further—

Boom!

Until it finally erupted in a huge explosion.

[Song Cheon-hye 99%]

[Song Cheon-hye 88%]

Her health plummeted in an instant.

This is when you press the advantage.

Whoooosh—

Wind was already gathering and compressing above my hand as well.

Not Spiral Explosion, but Destructive Gale.

I’d borrowed it from Seo Ye-in since I had an open copy slot anyway.

Song Cheon-hye tried to counterattack despite staggering, but I thrust my hand forward a split second before she could.

Booooom—!

The compressed wind blasted straight ahead all at once, sending her flying backward like a leaf caught in a typhoon.

[Song Cheon-hye 88%]

[Song Cheon-hye 76%]

Still not done.

Just as Song Cheon-hye managed to steady herself and tried to get back up, a flaming arrow came hurtling toward her.

It was compressed to the extreme and burned more vividly than any ordinary flame, the explosive buff [Outburst] layered onto [Flame Arrow].

Booooom—!

A huge explosion erupted, turning the surrounding area into a sea of flames.

[Song Cheon-hye -%]

The next moment, Song Cheon-hye was nowhere to be seen.

She’d been pummeled without even getting a chance to breathe until she was knocked out of the fight.

Now Lee Seul-bi’s the only one left.

At this point, the outcome was practically decided.

She had already been losing to Hong Yeon-hwa even with [Aqua Flame] sealed, and now it was two against one.

Lee Seul-bi seemed to realize the same thing, judging by the grim look on her face, but she refused to lose her fighting spirit and continued casting.

That’s more like it.

Satisfied with her demeanor befitting a future hero, I nodded approvingly and pointed my staff forward.

Another blue circle appeared beneath Lee Seul-bi’s feet and began expanding.

I can still disrupt her even without the mark.

For a stationary battery-type mage, being forced to move around instead of focusing on casting was stressful in itself.

On top of that, I shouted urgently,

“You gotta get out of there, quick!”

“……Seriously? You’re the one who put it there.”

“You’re in big trouble if you stay there!”

“…….”

Lee Seul-bi apparently decided to ignore me.

She’d already seen that the [Pulverize Zone] from earlier wasn’t as threatening as she’d expected.

If this one was the same, she figured she could withstand it with defensive magic like barriers and armor.

As she continued casting, waves formed and swelled larger and larger—

Whoooooosh—!

Then surged forward, swallowing up the fire spells.

Hong Yeon-hwa casually responded by sweeping her staff through the air, causing the flames to burn even more fiercely and gradually push back the waves.

“……”

Lee Seul-bi, who had barely had any breathing room to begin with, was steadily losing what little she had left.

I kept offering her words of encouragement.

“I’m telling you, get out of there! That one’s different from before. It’s gonna hurt a lot if it hits you!”

“I’m not falling for it, so stop.”

“If that hits you, you’re seriously going down in one shot!”

I’d narrowed the area and lengthened the delay, which had dramatically increased its power.

I was only saying this because I was genuinely worried about her.

Even so, Lee Seul-bi refused to budge.

“I’m seriously going to ignore you now.”

With an attitude that practically said, Do your worst, she continued trading spells with Hong Yeon-hwa.

Then, at a certain point—

Booooom—!

The pressure came crashing down and flattened Seul-bi into a pancake.

[Lee Seul-bi -%]

“Told you it’d take you out in one shot.”

All she had to do was move a few steps to the side. Was that really such a hassle?

Once again, I was reminded that trust was the most important thing in any relationship.

[Kim Ho Hong Yeon-hwa Win]

Vs

[Song Cheon-hye Lee Seul-bi Lose]

I glanced over the scoreboard, then praised Hong Yeon-hwa as she came trotting over.

“Good work. Our teamwork was on point.”

“No, you did everything……”

“Everything? You were our firepower.”

“Well…… that’s true……”

“Take some pride in it. Shall we head out?”

“……Mhmm!”

Hong Yeon-hwa happily trotted ahead.

But just as she reached the teleportation circle, she suddenly spun around and looked me straight in the eye.

“I worked hard, right?”

“You sure did.”

“Then can I get that consolation prize—Aaaah!”

Apparently, the side effects had kicked in again the moment she let her guard down.

Hong Yeon-hwa’s face crumpled and all traces of her good mood disappeared.

“I-I think I need to go back for today……”

Apparently, she planned to hole up in her dorm room until the potion wore off.

She turned away again and headed for the teleportation circle as if fleeing.

I strode past her and blocked her path.

“Why do you keep running away?”

“Because…… it’s embarrassing……”

“You can leave, but not before you get your consolation prize.”

“……!?”

Hong Yeon-hwa’s eyes widened.

I stepped closer and gave her a light kiss on the cheek.

Then I grinned and asked,

“Sometimes the side effects aren’t so bad, right?”

“Huh……? Huh? Uh……”

Hong Yeon-hwa answered in a daze, as if she still couldn’t process what had just happened.

As the seconds passed, she gradually seemed to come back to her senses, and her face grew redder and redder.

I continued,

“If you want something, just be honest and say it, like you did earlier.”

“……!”

“I’ve said this before, but it’s not a competition. It’s not like you’re lacking compared to anyone else.”

I’d said as much with conviction in front of my third set of future in-laws, and I intended to stand by it.

Hong Yeon-hwa looked deeply moved and slowly nodded.

“Okay……!”

“And make sure you promote the potion. All kinds of stuff happened, but it all worked out in the end, didn’t it?”

She’d accumulated enough embarrassing memories to last a year in just a few hours, but in exchange, her rank had gone up, and our relationship had taken another step forward.

Hong Yeon-hwa seemed to agree and readily replied,

“Okay, I’ll talk to the club president……!”

Once the Ruby Magic Tower got involved, word would spread in no time.

I’d done more than enough to uphold my loyalty to Shin Byeong-cheol.

After we left the arena, Hong Yeon-hwa headed for the Ruby Magic Tower clubroom.

She planned to give the club president a heads-up, then rest in her dorm.

Things had worked out well, sure, but apparently she didn’t want to add any more embarrassing memories to the pile.

Besides, I couldn’t keep teaming up with Hong Yeon-hwa anyway.

I had the “Super-Duper Challenge” to worry about.

▷Condition 2: Complete with a different teammate each time

Who should I ask to team up with?

One match would be easy enough if I brought Seo Ye-in along.

For the other one, maybe I could ask Go Hyeon-woo or Han So-mi?

Just as I was about to send a message while thinking it over, I felt someone’s gaze boring into me from somewhere.

I turned my head and, sure enough, there stood Song Cheon-hye and Lee Seul-bi.

Maybe because they’d gotten thoroughly crushed in their very first match, their morale looked like it had sunk straight through the floor.

In the spirit of good sportsmanship, I spoke first.

“Good game, you two.”

“……You too.”

Song Cheon-hye looked thoroughly sulky, but at least she answered.

Then she shot me a sidelong glance and asked,

“What about Hong Yeon-hwa?”

“She left.”

“……She left?”

“Yeah. Said she was done for today.”

“What about you?”

“I’m going to find someone else. Even if it’s just for one match.”

“…….”

Song Cheon-hye’s eyebrows rose, clearly interested.

But then she seemed to remember that I’d chosen Hong Yeon-hwa first, and perhaps the sting of the beating she’d just taken came rushing back too, because she abruptly turned her head away.

“Good luck finding someone. You’ve got plenty of people who’d team up with you.”

“I was going to ask you.”

Song Cheon-hye perked up again and started to turn toward me, only to whip her head back the other way.

“……No thanks.”

Apparently, she’d gone into full hedgehog mode.

Lee Seul-bi, who had been watching, calmly whispered to Song Cheon-hye.

Whether she meant to or not, she spoke loudly enough for me to hear every word.

“Just team up with him for one match. I’ll wait. I can pair up with Geum Jo-han in the meantime.”

“No, I don’t want to team up with him……”

“You did, though. You kept asking earlier if there was any chance.”

“That was only if a spot opened up……”

“Isn’t there one open right now?”

“The situation is different now……”

“Doesn’t seem that different to me.”

“……”

Song Cheon-hye opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again.

Apparently, now that she thought about it, Lee Seul-bi had a point.

Lee Seul-bi continued calmly talking her into it.

“If you keep letting your pride get in the way, you’ll regret it later. Just go play a match with him.”

“……Fine.”

Song Cheon-hye agreed, putting on a show of being extremely reluctant and having no other choice.

But when she looked at me, there was a subtle hint of anticipation in her expression.

“Then let’s team up for just one match.”