Episode 123 Week 7 Mentoring, In-person Battle (8)
– Kwaaaaaaa—!
I looked upwards.
Something resembling an artificial sun floating in the sky is continuously sending down fireballs.
‘That’s pretty expensive.’
What Cha Hyun-joo wrote is the arrow rain skill, [Fire Rain], strengthened using a special mediating item.
Since it is a fairly rare item, when used as a medium, it can provide firepower comparable to that of an average wizard, but against me, it was just a waste of the item.
Because they are all blocked by S-class [Elemental Resistance].
– Kwaaaaaaa—!
The rain of fireballs continued to pour down for a while longer.
Some of them fall near me and cause a fiery explosion,
Some of them just hit me right in the head.
But I stood there indifferently in the place that had become a sea of fire.
[Kim Ho 100%]
[Kim Ho 100%]
[Kim Ho 100%]
Of course, my stamina didn’t decrease by even 1%.
As we stood there waiting, the force of the falling fireballs gradually decreased and eventually died down completely.
[Kim Ho 100% vs Cha Hyun-joo 97%]
[Crystal 74%]
A moment of silence.
Cha Hyun-joo also seemed confused when she saw that the attacks that had been continuing without a single moment of rest had stopped.
The feeling of emptiness from having blown away such a valuable item without any results may have also played a part.
– Kiririririk!
But as if I had quickly regained my senses, the arrows rushed towards me again.
I lifted my wrist slightly, moving it leisurely from side to side.
A bracelet that looks like a chain of black clouds that fills the wrist.
This is a dark cloud bracelet I got from a downtown area.
‘Should I take it for a test drive?’
-Boom!
A handful of dark clouds appeared next to me.
The dark cloud flew forward, fluttered, and collided head-on with the arrows that were shooting at it.
– container,
The impact sent the dark cloud flying backwards, and the arrow’s trajectory was derailed, striking a nearby tree.
The dark clouds that return to hovering around me again, making a fuss.
The cloud has the effect of swallowing and absorbing magical attacks.
Dark clouds have the effect of mitigating and reflecting physical attacks.
It acts as a kind of cushion.
‘And you can also write it like this.’
By wrapping the dark clouds around the roots, a long, fluffy stick was completed.
I added Windforce and Twister to it and swung it at the incoming arrows.
– container,
The arrow’s trajectory changes sharply and it sinks deep into the ground.
‘As expected, it’s an A-rank.’
The performance is certain.
In the same way, let’s hit the arrow three or four times.
‘There you are.’
I could roughly guess where Cha Hyun-joo was sitting.
I immediately kicked the ground and ran forward.
– Pot! Pot!
[Crystal 77%]
[Crystal 72%]
[Crystal 66%]
As you leave the sanctuary’s range, the connection is lost and the crystal’s charge level drops.
But I ignored the scoreboard and just focused on running forward.
The only thing that matters now is to teach that spoiled brat the bitter taste of old water.
– Pot! Pot!
As my vision changed a few more times, Cha Hyun-joo’s figure came into view.
He looks at me with surprised eyes.
“… … !”
“Did you think I wouldn’t be able to get out?”
If I had charged the crystal that much, I would probably stay near the sanctuary out of pity, but I am an exception.
Obsessing over crystal charging is something only a novice would do.
Recharging can be done at any time after disabling the opponent’s defense.
Of course, this strategy was unfamiliar to Cha Hyun-joo, who was only competing in her third Crystal match.
Even though it was an emergency situation, he quickly regained his composure and fired his bow.
– Pot!
The next moment, I appeared behind Cha Hyun-joo.
It’s exactly the same as before, but the difference in specs is so great that they probably had no choice but to suffer even though they knew it.
“Ugh.”
Cha Hyun-joo responded by swinging the arrow again like a dagger, but his struggles were quickly in vain.
After a brief melee, I used the root as a baton to strike the joint.
And while holding onto Cha Hyun-joo tightly, he pointed to the other side of the sky.
“Okay, this time we’re going to go a little further.”
[Use ‘amplify’.]
[‘Windforce’ grade increases. (C+->A+)]
-Whiooooo—
Perhaps sensing the unusual momentum of the gathering wind, Cha Hyun-joo’s pupils shook even more violently than before.
He speaks urgently.
“Wait a minute. I lost. I’ll give up.”
“Really? Then I will accept your abstention—”
– Boom!
—and exploded a huge ball of compressed air.
“—!!”
Cha Hyun-joo was shot out like a human cannonball.
The speed at which it flew was so fast that I couldn’t even pronounce the first letter of ‘son of a bitch’.
After seeing Cha Hyun-joo, who had become a small dot
Only then did I check the scoreboard again,
[Crystal 31%]
The charge level dropped to 30% in a short period of time.
But there was no need to return to the sanctuary.
[Kim Ho 100%] vs [Cha Hyun-joo – %]
[Crystal 27%]
Because Cha Hyun-joo was declared incapacitated for combat.
[Kim Ho Win] vs [Cha Hyun Joo Lose]
‘Now let’s try using the loot.’
I took out [Rank Up (E)] from my inventory.
I got it from Cha Hyun-joo as a condition of accepting a private rematch, but now that I’ve won so overwhelmingly, I can’t be dissatisfied even if I use it all up.
When I used Rank Up, a bright light came out and was absorbed into my body.
[Use ‘Rank Up (E)’.]
[The rank of ‘Monarch’ increases. (E->D)]
One of the three privileges received upon accepting the reincarnation quest.
Although its true value has not yet been revealed, it is a powerful trait that is not significantly inferior to [Copy] and [Amplification].
[Monarch]’s first effect is strong resistance to mental magic, such as illusion and bewitchment.
The second is the ‘special power’ that only the monarch has.
[Priest] When copying the trait, there are things that only the monarch can do, such as passing through the defenses of the Feather Serpent Temple without any hindrance.
These two alone are quite useful, and additional features will be unlocked as you rank up further.
‘Long-term investment, good.’
After that, I rode the teleportation magic circle and went out of the stadium.
* * *
“You got back together with Cha Hyun-joo?”
Dang Gyu-yeong asked in surprise.
“That’s what happened.”
“When? How did it happen?”
“Just now. They said they were coming from over there. They said they’d fight if I didn’t give them a rematch.”
Dang Gyu-yeong frowned and turned his head to look somewhere in the stadium.
“Anyway, I can’t take care of the child. I can’t even think about harming others.”
It seems like he was looking at the place where Cha Hyun-joo’s mentor might be.
And then he suddenly turns his head towards me and asks.
“Did you scold me, Cha Hyun-joo?”
“It really drove me nuts.”
“Pfft, right. There’s no way our 200th graduating junior would lose.”
Dang Gyu-yeong patted my shoulder excitedly.
Then, when the excitement died down, he gave some advice in a slightly more serious tone.
“But be careful. Cha Hyun-joo, that guy is a bit persistent. I think he’ll keep picking fights with you.”
“It looks like that.”
Even when Cha Hyun-joo declared surrender at the end, her eyes were filled with a sincere murderous intent.
So, they didn’t accept the surrender and just blew it up.
As Dang Gyu-young said, he seems to have a poisonous and persistent side, so there will be a chance that they will meet again at some point.
* * *
– Pitter-patter,
Cha Hyun-joo ground her teeth until they broke.
My two tightly clenched fists are trembling.
She was sitting in a corner of the arena, replaying her second match with Kim Ho.
– Puddle,
The more I thought about it, the more I felt like gritting my teeth because it was full of things that made me tense up.
The words that Kim Ho had playfully thrown out lingered in my head.
– Show your sincerity. The prize is yours.
– Let’s go, poopoo~
– Okay, this time we’re going to go a little further!
“… … !!”
Cha Hyun-joo, unable to control her anger, tried to hit the audience with her fist,
Her mentor watched with anxious eyes and hurriedly intervened.
“Hyunju, just hold on for a little while. Just hold on for a little while.”
“… … .”
Cha Hyun-joo put down his fist, took a deep breath, and started reviewing the game again.
– Pitter-patter,
And then naturally, my teeth started to grind.
On the other hand, apart from that emotional side, she had a fairly objective view and was able to point out each and every element of the game.
In the first match I was randomly selected for, the match ended shortly after I took out my main weapon, the bow.
The decisive reason I requested a rematch with Kim Ho was because I was really uneasy about that fact.
Because I was confident that I couldn’t lose if I showed everything I had from the beginning in a private match.
But when he actually entered the revenge match, he found out that he wasn’t the only one who had hidden his skills.
Kim Ho, who showed his true skills, was a completely different person than in the previous match.
The man’s speed was so agile that even the archer himself had difficulty keeping up with his own eyes.
There was no way the arrow would hit the target if it wasn’t detected in the first place.
As a result, Cha Hyun-joo was unable to do anything until he got close to her, and once he did, she was instantly subdued before she could even put up a proper fight.
Twice, at that.
It was a perfect difference in skill that left no room for excuses.
And that’s not all.
Even when he used his conversion skill [Fire Rain], the mean guy didn’t move an inch from his spot, as if showing off that something like that didn’t work.
After that, he summoned a black cloud and easily deflected his attacks as if he were handling a child.
Finally, the determination and courage to give up on charging the crystal and take the risk.
‘Whew… … I have to admit what I have to admit.’
In every way, it was a complete defeat for him.
However, she was far from the type of person to become discouraged or disheartened after losing a few times.
Rather, her eyes were burning with an even stronger sense of victory.
‘I need to get stronger.’
Much more than now.
After becoming stronger enough to have an overwhelming difference in skill between himself and Kim Ho, he challenges him again.
And I will trample you down thoroughly.
To do that, you have to invest everything you have into the bow.
Wasting time on daggers to hide your skills will only slow down your growth.
‘… … I have to throw it away.’
The reason she hid her skills and worked at this Yongsal Academy was because she had her own goals that she wanted to achieve, but that kind of thing didn’t matter right now.
Cha Hyun-joo declared to her mentor.
“I’m just going to use a bow from today.”
