Episode 13 Placement Test (3)
Song Cheon-hye looked at the calligrapher across from her in silence, then took out a pair of gloves from her bosom and put them on her right hand.
Black gloves embroidered with gold and studded with topaz.
It will be a unique artifact of the Topaz Tower.
Since she was completely bare-handed when she took on the male students who were picking on her, she seems to be thinking of taking the final placement test more seriously.
On the other hand, the calligrapher was wearing something like a suspender over his school uniform shirt, and upon closer inspection, he realized that it was a holster for a pistol.
And two pistols, one on each side.
Shin Byeong-cheol sees that and asks me.
“Now that I look at him, he was a musketeer? Did you know that?”
“No. I just found out.”
Musketeer. Or gunner.
This is a long-range class that subdues enemies with bullets filled with magical power.
Appearances aren’t everything, I never expected that a calligrapher would be a musketeer.
If you think about it, it’s only been a day since we met, and even then, I only saw you sleeping half the time.
It’s not easy to conjure up the image of a musketeer moving nimbly and piercing the target there.
Shin Byeong-cheol observed both sides alternately as if he found it interesting.
“This is where things get interesting. If you shoot a gun, it’s a perfect match for the wizard, right? 6 vs. 4? 7 vs. 3? Song Cheon-hye might unexpectedly lose.”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see.”
“Hey, even if it’s the Topaz Tower, it’s hard to lose if the Gunners just do the basics.”
“Then shall we make a bet?”
Shin Byeong-cheol smiled broadly at the word bet.
“Aha, I bet. I’m always welcome. What’s the bet?”
“5 silver.”
“Okay. Five silver is a bit much, but it’s worth the thrill.”
“Then you are a calligrapher, and I am a Song Cheon-hye.”
“call.”
I took out all my assets, 5 silver coins.
It will soon be doubled in size.
Meanwhile, a heated debate was underway between the male students A and B sitting nearby, regarding Song Cheon-hye and Seo Ye-in.
However, the topic was slightly different from ours.
– Which side are you on?
– Uhhhh… … This is truly a difficult problem to decide on.
– Since there are two beauties that are hard to find, I understand it’s hard to choose.
– If I had to choose one, I would say Song So-jeo is my style more. Her proud eyes are like looking at an ice flower.
– Is that so? It seems like we have different opinions.
Not only A and B, but also other male students were more concerned about ‘Who will win?’
They were split in half and fighting over the topic, ‘Who is prettier? Who is more to my taste?’
To summarize the opinions of Song Cheon-hye’s faction, the dominant opinion was that they wanted to serve her for the rest of their lives because she was like a queen, and that they wanted to step on her hard, even if it was just once.
On the other hand, calligrapher Pa kept his mouth shut and focused his gaze on one spot rather than expressing any clear opinion.
Men’s thoughts are similar wherever you go.
[Song Cheon-hye 100% vs. Seo Ye-in 100%]
[5:00 remaining]
The scoreboard shows the two people’s stamina and remaining time.
The countdown began immediately.
[3]
[2]
[1]
[Start!]
The moment the game started, each of the calligraphers already had a pistol in each hand.
The pistols took turns firing blue lights.
– Tututututu!
Song Cheon-hye didn’t even try to dodge the rain of magic bullets.
He simply extended his gloved hand forward.
As if it was telling me to come this far and then stop.
– Crackle! Crackle!
Sparks flew ceaselessly in front of his outstretched palm.
The magic bullets were blocked by the barrier deployed by Song Cheon-hye.
Shin Byeong-cheol opened his eyes wide at the sight.
“Huh? Why is that blocked? Shouldn’t that be blocked?”
‘That’s why we have to wait and see.’
The magical power that each calligrapher carries is more than average, but the magical power that Song Cheon-hye possesses is far greater than that.
Each spell costs so much mana that an E-rank Hummingbird looks like a D-rank.
Even the simple barrier magic we use now is nearly twice as thick.
That’s why magic bullets that would have easily penetrated the barrier lose their power and scatter along the way.
Song Cheon-hye held the barrier with one hand while lifting two hummingbirds made of lightning with the other hand.
[Hummingbird]
Two hummingbirds flew across the sky.
The calligrapher turned the gun that had been firing at the barrier towards the hummingbird.
– Tutututu!
We managed to intercept one hummingbird, but the other one is still intact.
The calligrapher’s new form slid sideways and avoided the hummingbird.
But as Song Cheon-hye waved her hand like a skilled conductor, the hummingbird circled in the air and flew back to its target.
– Tututututu!
Again the pistols fire.
Even though one of its wings fell off, the hummingbird did not lose its flying power and reached the calligrapher, drawing a single line of lightning.
– Phagec!
“… … !”
The calligrapher frowned slightly.
Although he wasn’t instantly incapacitated, perhaps due to the protection of some pretty good equipment, his movements were noticeably slower.
– Boom!
Song Cheon-hye, who was creating a thick lightning bolt to follow up, stopped for a moment.
There was a small explosion and thick smoke rose.
It was clear that he had quickly thrown the smoke bomb, judging that the hummingbird would not be able to avoid it.
Shin Byeong-cheol nodded his head with satisfaction.
“Excellent decision! This would have saved us some time.”
“The key will be how quickly the wizards can clear the smoke.”
Even if you throw lightning at a smokescreen that can’t be seen, it’s obvious that it will end in a dud.
But Song Cheon-hye seems to be trying something else before the smoke clears.
The structure of the spell on the glove suddenly twisted and changed into something else, and the lightning split into several electric balls the size of baseballs.
Song Cheon-hye threw them all into the smokescreen at once.
– Flick, flick, flick!
[Song Cheon-hye 100% vs Seo Ye-in 88%]
[4:02 remaining]
The scoreboard’s stamina has dwindled, so it seems like you’ve hit one or two, but you’re still far from overpowering your opponent.
Song Cheon-hye cast wind magic to clear the smoke.
An empty arena.
The calligrapher is nowhere to be seen.
And the next moment,
– Boom!
Song Cheon-hye’s new body lurched to the side with a heavy impact sound.
A powerful, unidentified blow came from somewhere on the right.
After barely maintaining my balance, I carefully looked at the direction from which the attack had come, and saw something transparent like a mist wriggling.
It looked like a transparent bush or a pile of leaves swaying.
Shin Byeong-cheol let out an exclamation.
“Hey… … Transparent Gilly? That guy must really have a lot of money.”
Transparent ghillie. Optical camouflage ghillie suit.
It is a precious item that can be given a C grade at best, but can be given an A grade if touched by a craftsman.
So, needless to say, the price is very expensive.
It was surprising that a student, especially a first-year student, had a transparent ghillie suit, but I was paying more attention to something else.
“You switched to a rifle.”
“A pistol is no answer.”
In order for the musketeer to damage the sorcerer, he must target a single point of the magic barrier and break through it, but this becomes considerably more difficult when the sorcerer has an enormous amount of magical power.
Therefore, in cases like this, it is better to switch to a rifle with a powerful single shot rather than firing multiple rounds with two pistols.
The magic bullets of the rifle used by the calligrapher appear to be focused on destructive power rather than penetrative power.
It is used to crush a wizard who has deployed a barrier with a single blow like a cannonball.
– Boom!
Once again, Song Cheon-hye’s body was pushed backwards.
This time, the sniper’s direction was straight ahead.
Song Cheon-hye must have thought that it couldn’t go on like this and quickly cast the next spell.
An additional layer of electricity is added over the magic barrier.
– Boom!
The third bullet flew into the barrier and struck it.
Thanks to the reinforced barrier, it’s not as far-fetched as before, but the impact is still transmitted internally.
Song Cheon-hye felt dizzy and frowned slightly.
[Song Cheon-hye 85% vs Seo Ye-in 88%]
[2:13 remaining]
“Hey, honestly, I was wondering if this was a long shot, but if this is the case, a real calligrapher might win.”
“Keep watching.”
If you allow valid hits little by little, the magician will lose.
But the reason I keep telling you to watch is because I still have confidence in the bet.
It’s called the Topaz Tower, but among all the magic you learn there, is there really no way to overcome this situation?
There are dozens of things that come to mind right now.
“… … .”
Song Cheon-hye sighed deeply as if she had no choice, then took out another pair of gloves from her bosom and put them on her free hand.
Interlock your fingers and spread them out to the sides as if you were knitting yarn.
[Lightning Thread]
Dozens of thin electrical threads were created between the two hands.
Song Cheon-hye began to spread it widely in all directions.
“Yeah. That’s smart.”
“What is that?”
“To put it simply, it’s like a spider web. It’s just laid out like that, waiting for someone to get caught.”
As I explained, soon the entire circular arena was filled with lightning threads.
– Crackle!
And then came the response.
In one corner of the arena, a faint spark rose above a transparent, writhing shape.
The moment the location was determined, the calligrapher’s rifle fired,
– Boom!
Song Cheon-hye wasn’t the type to be attacked the same way four times.
Even more so if the sniping location is clearly visible.
Concentrates all magical power on one side and blocks magical bullets without causing any damage.
– Boom!
The calligrapher decided that it was no longer meaningful and threw away the transparent gili and detonated the smoke bomb again.
But from Song Cheon-hye’s perspective, there was no need to clear away this smoke bomb.
Anyway, the sparks that kept flying were telling us the general location of the opponent.
Once again a hummingbird crossed the arena.
This time there was only one, but it was relatively large.
And the movements were also much more irregular.
The calligrapher had no time to react to the movements that seemed to mix zigzags and swirls.
– Phagec!
‘It’s progressed a little bit.’
In my opinion, it deserves a score of 30 out of 100.
It wasn’t even 10 points until just now.
How I wish I could train myself to see a hummingbird fly straight ahead like a sparrow.
As expected, people learn a lot the more they practice in real life.
“… … .”
Unfortunately, it seemed like the calligrapher had no more cards left.
After being hit hard by the Hummingbird, my mobility was reduced to almost 0.
That’s why I’m going to give it my all, whether it works out or not.
The rifle was quickly disassembled and reassembled into two pistols.
– Tutututu!
However, since it was an attack that didn’t work in the beginning, it was natural that it would be easily blocked by the barrier this time as well.
Every time Song Cheon-hye maintained a strong defense and counterattacked, Seo Ye-in’s stamina continued to decrease.
“It’s finished.”
“ah.”
[0:00 remaining]
[Song Cheon-hye 85% vs Seo Ye-in 68%]
As the five-minute time limit ran out, Song Cheon-hye instantly gathered all her magical power as if nothing had happened.
I was convinced when I saw how he handled mana as naturally as if it were his own body.
‘There will be almost no rivals among the first year students.’
It’s because I met the wrong person, but the calligrapher’s skills are also considerable.
It was commendable that he was able to hold out until the end of the match against Topaz Matap without being overpowered.
[Song Cheon-hye Wins vs Seo Ye-in Loses]
Of course, an evaluation is an evaluation, and a bet is a bet.
He quickly extended his hand to Shin Byeong-cheol.
“5 silver.”
“No~ This is a raccoon~ Ah~”
He takes out 5 silver coins and puts them on the table with a look of disbelief.
He said that he was moderately thrilled with 5 silver, but he seemed very disappointed when he actually lost it.
“Hey, let’s make one more bet. Just one more bet.”
“Why do you keep making bets? It’s not pretty when you do this after losing.”
“Hey, listen up. It’s a placement test, so it’s a joint test for first-year students, so it’s all public. The actual interpersonal matches are usually kept private. When do you think you’ll get another chance to open popcorn and make bets like this?”
Of course, I knew that too.
Unless there is a competition in the fall, it is rare to see a match between students.
So I agreed to pretend I couldn’t win.
“Then let’s do it just one more time.”
“Good idea! Then this time… … .”
Shin Byeong-cheol’s eyes began to wander from one arena to another, looking for a bet target.
Han So-mi, who pushes her opponents with fierce swordsmanship and eventually subdues them.
Hong Yeon-hwa turned one of the stadiums into a sea of fire.
Both of them are more than worthy bettors, but unfortunately, they are almost finished with their third placement test.
“oh!”
Then Shin Byeong-cheol spotted someone and his eyes lit up.
“What about Go Hyun-woo?”
The supporters eat it all
