Episode 144 Week 8 Mentoring, Strategy Battle (6)
After playing the calligraphy throwing game a few times and coming out, An Jeong-mi, who had been waiting, greeted us.
“Mr. Kim Ho, Miss. Thank you for your hard work.”
Her attitude was polite and businesslike as always, but her eyes were filled with an emotion that could not be hidden.
A perfect game against the Ogre.
Not even 1% damage was allowed.
Even though the ogre was suffering from [Weakness], it was an encouraging result.
In fact, it would be safe to say that this is the best record for a first-year student.
Of course, grades are grades, but there was another reason why An Jeong-mi was more impressed.
“It was really great teamwork.”
The fact that Seo Ye-in, who had never even paid attention to her partner until now, was in perfect sync with me.
When I was charging the crystal, I quickly cleared out the goblins that were getting in the way, then focused my attacks on the ogre’s legs to keep it at bay.
And when he was charging, he made full use of my assistance to dodge the Ogre’s attacks.
“There was a reason why Mr. Kim Ho recommended Feather Step.”
In particular, the combination of Feather Step and Windforce had surprisingly good synergy, allowing the calligrapher to move in one breath to escape danger and reset to a good shooting position.
As it shows such a high level of utility beyond expectations, An Jeong-mi, who has been diligently teaching Feather Step, will be even more satisfied.
In many ways, I think it was a good idea to allow a temporary fair.
‘That’s enough for now.’
The temporary pairing with the calligrapher had another purpose.
This is exactly what solves this lazy girl’s lack of motivation problem.
I spoke in a passing tone.
“But I never caught the ogre. What a pity.”
“… … .”
The calligrapher stared at me intently.
You must be curious.
If I had continued fighting after delivering a critical hit with a shotgun at the last moment, would I have taken him down?
Soon the calligrapher began to tug at my sleeve.
“Do it again.”
To add to the omitted words here, it means that we should go into the dungeon together again and have a proper fight with the ogre.
But I shook my head slowly.
“Let’s stop here for today.”
Unfortunately, the pairing with the calligrapher is only temporary.
It’s about time Kwak Ji-cheol came to his senses, so I have to continue practicing with him.
In the first place, it was a promise with Dang Gyu-young to return after only earning points.
“… … .”
The strength left the hand that was holding my sleeve.
A half-sad, half-angry emotion is reflected in the expressionless face.
I said with a bitter smile.
“It’s not just today. Do you know this is also part of the midterm exam?”
“… … .”
“The ogre is coming back again.”
“… … !”
And then the ogre won’t disappear even after the crystal charge is finished.
When the calligrapher looked up, I suggested.
“Practice a lot in advance. Try to avoid and hit a lot.”
As you practice and become more adept at evasion, it will become easier to time your attacks.
As you become more adept at hitting vital points, you will be able to reduce the ogre’s health faster.
The calligrapher nodded.
“okay.”
I feel my motivation, which had been at rock bottom, rising again.
And An Jeong-mi, who was watching us from the side, couldn’t help but be amazed.
Have a conversation with me through your eyes.
– There was such a trick… … !
– I told you I would find a way.
– Thank you.
– I’ll consider this debt paid off.
Thanks to Ahn Jung-mi’s performance art, I was able to cleverly overcome the cookie-shape challenge, and this is the reward.
Also, if the calligrapher is motivated and approaches mentoring, it would be beneficial for me as well, so I would say it kills two birds with one stone.
We can check the results of our training in the midterm exam.
* * *
Since I achieved a perfect game and cleared the strategy stage, I easily surpassed the 90% achievement rate for the sub-quest.
[Sub Quest: 8th Week Strategy] (Complete)
▷Goal: Clear the dungeon before the attack
▷Achievement: Average stamina 100/90%
▷Compensation is enhanced.
[Please select a reward.]
▷Windcutter
▷Shooting Star
▷One point explosion
Windcutter is a wind attribute attack skill that cuts down enemies with sharp wind.
It is simple, but it is good because it can be combined with various wind skills.
Shooting Star is a non-attribute attack skill that strikes enemies with a large star-shaped mass of mana.
The main body, a large star, is a simple projectile, but when it hits its target or flies through, it splits into smaller stars that spread out in all directions.
Because it is impossible to predict where those little stars will fly, they are secretly quite tricky to deal with.
And the long-awaited explosion.
It is a non-attribute skill that targets a point in the air, compresses mana in an instant, and explodes it to inflict damage.
In addition, the second reason why this skill is a key piece of Spiral Explosion is,
‘Ignore defense.’
Depending on the rank of the explosion, it can ignore a certain percentage of the enemy’s defensive equipment and inflict damage.
These characteristics are also applied to the spiral explosion that will be linked later.
So you don’t have to worry about what to receive.
[Acquire ‘One-Point Explosion’.]
It’s not too late to think about other things after completing the spiral explosion.
Now one piece at a time until completion.
You just need to learn one more skill.
Of course, there is still quite some time left until that opportunity comes.
‘I need to level up in the meantime.’
Make good use of mentoring events.
I went back to where my crew members were.
Kwak Ji-cheol has come to his senses, but is still sprawled out in a corner.
Song Cheon-hye and Hong Yeon-hwa also came out after finishing their first challenge, but at first glance, the atmosphere was not very good.
The reason is probably because the results of the first challenge fell short of expectations.
Still, I wanted to hear from the person involved, so I called Song Cheon-hye, who was closest to me.
“Genie of the lamp, Genie of the lamp, come here.”
“!!”
Since the last bet where I got three wish tickets, I’ve been calling Song Cheon-hye the Genie of the Lamp instead of her name.
Song Cheon-hye herself knew that fact, so her face turned red in an instant and she looked around.
As a leader, it would be bad if it was known that you made a bet with another student.
It would be even better if it was known that he had accumulated 3 wish tickets by losing and losing and losing again.
So Song Cheon-hye hurriedly dragged me to a corner.
“Don’t call me that.”
“It’s my choice. If I try, I’ll win.”
“You have so many other nicknames, why the Genie of the Lamp?”
“Really? If you don’t like it, should I change it? Use the wishing ticket.”
“… … Now that I think about it, the genie from the lamp seems like a good idea too.”
Song Cheon-hye immediately tucks her tail between her legs.
Should I use a wish list to give myself a weird nickname and call it in front of other people?
Just imagining it could have dire consequences.
Song Cheon-hye quickly changed the subject, perhaps realizing that she had no chance of winning on this topic.
“Why did you call me?”
“What’s wrong with the atmosphere? Is things not going well?”
“… …As you can see.”
“I was trying to catch you ogres.”
“How did you know?”
When Song Cheon-hye asked back in surprise, I answered nonchalantly.
“You two are both quite skilled, and you are competitive with each other.”
So, rather than cooperating, I think they just beat each other up and compared who did more damage.
Also, it’s less of a hassle to catch them than running away while charging crystals, and you’ll get bonus points.
So the two of them tried to cast magic competitively,
“He’s strangely strong. He must have suffered from weakness too… … .”
“It’s not working as well as you thought?”
Song Cheon-hye narrowed her eyes as if she noticed something strange in my tone of voice.
“It seems like I knew it.”
“I made a hypothesis.”
Of course, it’s a hypothesis, but it’s just an experience.
If you ask, “How did you know that?” after hearing everything, it’s a hassle to explain further, so I’ll lay the groundwork in advance.
“[Weakness] does cause your rank to drop, but it doesn’t seem like all your abilities will drop evenly.”
“… … !”
For example, attack-related abilities such as speed and destructive power have been greatly reduced compared to the original Ogre, but its high defense and toughness remain almost the same.
That means that while it’s considerably easier to avoid its attacks, it’s still difficult to take it down.
Song Cheon-hye must have felt the same way, because instead of dismissing my words as nonsense, she seemed to be comparing them to her own experiences.
“I’ll have to check it out more, but it’s entirely possible. So you’re saying we can’t catch ogres?”
“Well, that depends on how you do it.”
This week, there are very limited ways to catch ogres.
The problem is that the mat is still there, but unexpectedly there is a time limit.
Just like the calligrapher and the battle where you just scored points, the ogre disappears in the middle of the battle when the crystal charge is finished.
There are two main ways to solve this problem.
Reset the crystal charge and extend the time by continuously moving out of the sanctuary’s range.
Or use skills with power far beyond that of a first-year student, such as Inferno Fist.
In other words, this means that there is no other way to catch it.
So what I’m trying to say is,
“Wouldn’t it be better to start with the basics rather than focusing on things that may or may not work out?”
Let’s compete to see who is stronger between Hong Yeon-hwa and me later.
It’s not too late to do that after both of you have dodged well and recharged your crystals.
Song Cheon-hye coughed in vain, perhaps because she felt a little stung.
“Hmm, hmm. That’s true. Thanks for the advice.”
“Have a nice talk with Hong Yeon-hwa too.”
“That’s right. By the way, it must be hard for you too.”
Our two eyes were focused on one place at the same time.
To Kwak Ji-cheol, who has finally managed to pull himself together and get up.
Song Cheon-hye had only figured out a small part of my skills, but she seemed to acknowledge that I was good at dodging and running away.
Since we won an easy victory against the Wall, we shouldn’t have much trouble against the Ogre either.
On the other hand, Kwak Ji-cheol is just a burden.
Moreover, the two crystal rule makes it difficult for one person to succeed if the other one does not do his part, even if the other one is exceptionally outstanding.
So, in Song Cheon-hye’s eyes, it seemed like she would suffer along with him.
This is also the reason why Dang Gyu-young said that the balance was not right when they were paired up.
I shrugged my shoulders as if it was no big deal.
“If I keep getting beaten up, won’t it get better?”
* * *
“Eww—!”
Kwak Ji-cheol’s scream echoed.
The next moment, a club the size of a human body fell down at a terrifying speed.
– Kwajik,
[Kwak Ji-cheol – %]
[Crystal 17%]
The second attempt also failed miserably.
Kwak Ji-cheol becomes incapacitated and is kicked out of the dungeon, and Dang Gyu-yeong appears, breaking free from hiding.
“There’s no progress. I wonder if it’s just going to end up lying down forever.”
“I don’t think I’ll just lie down until the end.”
The other crew members are so outstanding, but Gwak Ji-cheol also has a score of 600.
In a place where future hero candidates gather, it means that even if you have mid-level skills, you still have basic intelligence.
So you will realize it yourself soon enough.
That this can’t go on.
There’s no telling how many times I’ll get hit by the ogre by then.
Dang Gyu-young also seemed to have similar thoughts and took a wait-and-see attitude.
And he asks me.
“What are you going to do now?”
“I have to finish what I was doing.”
Skill training.
The first challenge was to find a new pair when Gwak Ji-cheol was incapacitated, but there was no need to do so after clearing the sub-quest.
If we continue like this, it will be over.
I threw Kwak Ji-cheol’s crystal across the cave.
As you move away from the Sanctuary, your connection will be lost and your charge will decrease rapidly.
[Crystal 11%]
[Crystal 6%]
[Crystal 1%]
This siege will continue indefinitely unless you retrieve the crystal and recharge it.
That means you can play tag with the ogre endlessly.
“What the heck?”
The ogre, oblivious to his impending future, could only cry foolishly as he watched the place where the crystal had flown away.
When I pointed at that guy with my root, a fist-sized amount of mana gathered around his waist and gradually became smaller and smaller.
The mass of mana was compressed into a tiny blue dot,
– Boom!
It just exploded.
“Kuuuuu… … .”
The ogre twisted his back as if in pain.
If you look closely, there is a small wound near the waist.
The skin that the calligrapher had barely managed to pierce with so many magic bullets was pierced with just one F-rank magic spell.
Of course, in terms of power alone, the single-point explosion is far inferior to the gunner’s shot, but
‘There is a defense ignore.’
“Kuuu… … .”
Thanks to this wound, it seemed clear to the ogre that I was his enemy.
The bastard ran at me and swung his club.
I walked leisurely and pointed at the guy with my roots.
Once again, mana gathered, compressed, and exploded.
– Boom!
